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City Commissioners' Meeting Notes

04/15/2009

Notes from the April 15th meeting of the City Commissioners:

The May 19th Ballot

The Commissioners approved adding an extra column to the ballot for Democratic Candidates in an effort to ease clutter and make the ballot easier to read. The initial ballot design would pack the Democratic judicial candidates into three columns. This would push the races for Judge of Election and Inspector of Election races to the far bottom of the ballot face.

The new design, suggested by Commissioner Chairwoman Tartaglione, would add a fourth column. This addition will create more “white space” between the Democratic and Republican columns, bring the races for Judge and Inspector of Elections up a few inches, and space the Judicial candidates out further so they’re easier to read. The design will not affect the District Attorney race, where there will be with three candidates in the first column and two in the second.

Voter Registration Deadline

The deadline to register to vote or make any changes to voters’ registration information – including change of party - is Monday, April 20th. Applications for new registrations or change in registration must be postmarked no later than April 20, 2009. NOTE: The Central Post Office in Philadelphia at 3000 Chestnut Street now closes at 9:00 pm. Any registration forms dropped off after that time, or in mail boxes after the collection time, will not be postmarked in-time for the deadline.

Election Day vs. School Day

The Commissioners were notified that the Philadelphia School District are considering adding Election Day as a standard school day. In recent elections, the School District held an in-service day on both Election Days, allowing the City to use schools as a polling place. Some schools now house up to 6 or 8 divisions housed in one location (for accessibility reasons). The Commissioners asked that citizens contact the School District to support keeping Election Day an in-service day so that the Schools can remain polling places for their surrounding communities.

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