2011 City Commissioners Reform Agenda
2011 REFORM AGENDA
PHILADELPHIA CITY COMMISSIONERS
The Committee of Seventy is asking you and the other candidates for Philadelphia City Commissioner to commit to the attached Reform Agenda – which is directed towards improving the experience of Philadelphia’s voters.
Seventy has publicly supported professionalizing the management of city elections by eliminating the City Commissioners as an elected office. Of the ten largest cities in the United States, only Philadelphia has elected officials in charge of running elections.
However, abolishing elected City Commissioners requires passage of an amendment to the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter, followed by a voter referendum. Although Seventy will continue to urge this reform, we are committed to working with the next set of City Commissioners to implement significant changes to make it easier for Philadelphians to vote.
This commitment results from our organizational mission to fight for fair elections. For over a century, Seventy has operated a Voter Protection Program during every primary and general election. Volunteers recruited and trained by Seventy answer voters’ questions at the polls and help resolve problems at city polling places. We also serve as a year-round resource for voters about election-related issues.
We regularly communicate with the Commissioners’ office about recurrent problems we have observed, or have been reported to us, including:
• Violations of the state law prohibiting electioneering in and around polling places.
• Insufficient knowledge about voting procedures among local polling place officials.
• Inadequate information to voters on the City Commissioners’ website.
Seventy recognizes that reforms of the election process itself – for example, no-excuses absentee ballots, voting by mail or through the internet – can only be enacted by the General Assembly.
However, as the overseers of local elections, there are many reforms that can be enacted by the City Commissioners in Philadelphia.
As we approach the general election, we ask that you state your position on 19 specific reforms. We urge you to embrace the ones you favor, explain your reasoning behind any you oppose and offer additional ideas we haven’t thought of.
Your responses, and those of your opponents, will be published on the Committee of Seventy’s website.
Please state your agreement, or explain your disagreement, with the following reforms:
State law protects voters from intentional or unintentional harassment by campaigners and candidates – commonly known as electioneering – within 10-feet of the entrance to a polling place. The City Commissioners interpret this as strict boundary, rather than a minimal requirement – which has resulted in complaints by city voters about intimidation as they enter the polls and, sometimes, inside the polls.
1. I will support mandating a significantly larger campaign-free buffer zone in Philadelphia – at least 30 feet – to better insulate voters from aggressive campaigners.
2. I will support updating the City Commissioners’ “Guide for Election Officers in Philadelphia County,” which is distributed to all polling place officials, to prominently include the ban on improper electioneering activities.
3. I will support stricter enforcement by polling place officials of the ban on improper electioneering activities by candidates or campaigners.
4. I will support barring any polling place official who takes part in electioneering activities from serving on an Election Board in the future.
Every election district in Pennsylvania is legally required to have a five-member Election Board, with each member residing within the election district. With over 1,600 voting divisions, this is a huge burden in Philadelphia and often leads to vacancies among polling place officials or on Election Boards which are largely filled by political ward leaders or committeepeople.
5. I will support reforming the Election Code to make it easier to fill Election Board positions in Philadelphia by relaxing the requirement that all polling place officials must reside in the election district.
6. I will support maintaining a public database within the City Commissioners office of individuals who have served on previous Election Boards in order to take the selection of Election Board members out of the hands of political ward leaders and committeepeople to the greatest extent possible.
7. I will support partnering with the School District of Philadelphia and non-public high schools to recruit exemplary seniors to serve as clerks or machine inspectors, as permitted by the Pennsylvania Election Code.
8. I will support efforts by the City Commissioners office to follow up with individuals who indicate on new voter registration forms that they are interested in serving as poll workers on Election Day.
The City Commissioners offer training to polling place officials, but only new officials are required to attend, leaving many long-serving polling place officials without up-to-date information on election procedures. There are no consequences if new polling place officials fail to attend.
9. I will support establishing mandatory in-person training sessions for all new polling place officials – and establish penalties for those who fail to attend.
10. I will support mandatory web-based video training sessions for repeat polling place officials – and establish penalties for those who fail to log on to participate.
11. I will support replacing the current, densely worded and difficult to read “Guide for Election Officers in Philadelphia County” with an easy-to-use, well-indexed manual which contains real-life examples of problems encountered on Election Day, and make the manual publicly available on the City Commissioners’ website.
The City Commissioners’ meetings are not welcoming to the public. There are no online meeting agendas or minutes. Meetings are scheduled at times when most members of the public are unable to attend. Citizens who do take the time to appear to register complaints or to suggest improvements in city elections are often ridiculed and treated with hostility.
12. I will support a more “customer-oriented” culture that treats all individuals who come in contact with the City Commissioners and staff with dignity and respect.
13. I will support greater public access to, and participation in, meetings conducted by the City Commissioners – including publicizing meeting agendas, making minutes available online and holding some meetings during evening hours and in neighborhoods throughout the city so that citizens can share their voting experiences.
14. I will support providing timely and complete transcripts of any hearings held by the City Commissioners on the Commissioners’ website.
The City Commissioners’ website – www.phillyelection.com – is woefully inadequate, providing minimal information in an amateurish format. While the Commissioners report that they are working with the administration to implement a complete systems upgrade that will “improve and substantially increase registration and election information,” there are many changes that can be made for minimal cost in the meantime to better educate and inform city voters.
15. Pending a complete overhaul of the City Commissioners’ website, I will support creating a more informative, user-friendly and aesthetically appealing website that includes, among other things, election-related alerts (e.g., broken machines on Election Day), press releases, maps of election districts and links to candidate campaign finance reports.
16. I will support undertaking a review of the websites of election offices in other major cities so that Philadelphia can take advantage of “best practices” in voter outreach.
According to its “Mission Statement,” one of the main functions of the City Commissioners is “encouraging Philadelphians to register and vote.” Even in elections of national significance, Philadelphia’s voter turnout is embarrassingly low.
17. I will support greater efforts by the City Commissioners office to increase voter turnout including, but not limited to, public service announcements, working with city schools and youth organizations to promote voter registration among young eligible voters and partnering with non-partisan groups to assist in a citywide effort to generate greater voter participation.
18. I will support providing voter training – in English and Spanish as a minimum – on the City Commissioners’ website to demystify the voting experience.
Elected City Commissioners typically hold leadership positions in a political party, often as a ward leader. This can lead to a conflict of interest because the election process is supposed to be operated in a manner than is both fair and impartial.
19. I will not serve as a ward leader or as a leader of a political party during my tenure as City Commissioner.