An Open Letter to the Next City Commissioners, November 2011

November 22, 2011

Dear Commissioner Clark, Commissioner-Elect Singer and Commissioner-Elect Schmidt:

City voters are expecting a great deal from you.

After rejecting two City Commissioners with a combined tenure of almost a half century, the voters have shown that they care about reforming the operations of city elections and their own voting experience.

Pennsylvania’s presidential primary is on April 24. During this short window – starting today – you can reward the voters’ confidence in you. Every day counts.

To Commissioners-Elect Singer and Schmidt: Your campaign statements and responses to the Committee of Seventy’s non-partisan 2011 Reform Agenda express in unmistakable terms your shared commitment to unprecedented openness, transparency and accountability in the City Commissioners’ office. Now is the time to prove it you mean it.

Assumptions are that the two of you will become the working majority. If this is true, let the voters know now who will chair the City Commissioners. And make it clear from the outset that there are three Commissioners in office, not just one.

To Commissioner Clark: Although you rarely spoke out during your first term, or this year’s campaign, we urge you to share your experience and ideas for reform with your new colleagues. We also urge you to join your new colleagues’ pledge to resign as ward leaders so that personal politics will not drive the oversight of local elections. Now is the time to prove your leadership.

The non-partisan Committee of Seventy, which champions fair elections, continues to support eliminating the City Commissioners as an elected office. No other major city in the country has partisan political leaders running elections, a model fundamentally at odds with the concept of impartial elections.

Notwithstanding our position on abolishing the offices to which you have just been elected, Seventy wants you to succeed. We will do what we can to help. And will remind you if you fail to live up to the voters’ expectations.

Some changes, even if you start right away, will take time to unfold. But others that can happen immediately should be set in motion before you take office in January.

IMMEDIATE REFORMS

1. PROVIDE BETTER “CUSTOMER” SERVICE

The City Commissioners have consistently failed to treat city voters as “customers” who deserve high-quality and comprehensive election services.

As Seventy has urged in past post-election reports, and repeated in our 2011 Reform Agenda, the existing culture of indifference can be swiftly reversed by:

•   Publicizing the times and agendas for your meetings;
•   Convening meetings in a larger room in City Hall that is welcoming to visitors;
•   Publishing timely minutes of all meetings;
•   Holding at least some meetings in the neighborhoods throughout the city and during more convenient hours for working Philadelphians;
•   Soliciting and responding to feedback from the voters about their experiences on election day and their interactions with your office throughout the year; and
•   Making essential elections information more widely available by collaborating with groups throughout the city that serve distinct constituencies, particularly those for whom English is not their primary language.

The communications gap was especially notable on November 8 for Asian-American voters who, according to testimony at a hearing on citywide redistricting by the President of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Pennsylvania, now comprise 6.3% of the city’s population, an increase of 41% over the last decade.

Problems documented by volunteers participating in Seventy’s non-partisan Voter Protection Program included lack of notification about polling place changes, English-only signage at “former” polling places about last-minute relocations, the absence of on-site interpreters and confusion about how to obtain appropriate assistance.

A national legal defense group that protects the rights of Asian Americans is exploring a possible violation of the Voting Rights Act. You should proactively forestall potential litigation by making the broadest possible outreach in non-English speaking communities. This process must begin now.

Fixing the City Commissioners’ website is a step in the right direction. For years, the public has been led to believe that this is in the works. However, even a vastly improved website will not provide proper voter education for less than 50% of the households in North, West and South Philadelphia that the city reports are without Internet access.

2. MAKE YOUR OPERATIONS FULLY TRANSPARENT

Like every other city department, the City Commissioners are obligated to present their proposed budget during annual spring public hearings in City Council. In the past, the hearings have been perfunctory at best, with City Commissioners offering and being asked to provide very little information.

Because your office has been free to operate with a bad combination of autonomy and anonymity, it continues to be perceived as a bastion of patronage and nepotism. During your first budget hearing this spring, you should set an entirely new tone of leadership by telling City Council – and the tax-paying public – precisely how their dollars are being spent. This should at least include a full listing of civil service and non-civil service personnel, the jobs they perform and the efforts you are making to contain spending and cut costs.

You should do your part to contain costs. The City Commissioners have been the only elected officials who have refused salary cuts during recent tough economic times. This sends a very bad message to city residents struggling with high unemployment and reduced savings.

3. BEGIN TO INCREASE VOTER TURNOUT

Low voter turnout is a national problem, not just a Philadelphia problem. This will not change overnight. But, with increased interest during a presidential election year, you have a chance to make great strides towards advancing a key aspect of the City Commissioners’ mission: encouraging all Philadelphians to register and vote.

The deadline for voting in Pennsylvania’s April 24, 2012 presidential primary election is March 26, 2012 – less than three months after you take office. You should begin now to actively seek out partners throughout the city – both inside and outside of government – which have members or clients who are eligible to vote and are capable of mounting get out the vote efforts on Election Day.

Your leadership in this initiative could present a model of non-partisanship that would go a long way towards shedding the politicized reputation of your office.

LONGER-TERM REFORMS

1. IMPROVE POLLING PLACE STAFFING

There are 8,240 individuals needed to cover Philadelphia’s 1,684 divisions: 5,052 elected and 3,368 appointed. The Pennsylvania Election Code requires all of them to live within the election division they serve.

This requirement creates a problem every election day. On November 8, numerous polling places were without a full complement of polling place officials. Seventy heard repeated complaints about difficulties in finding people to serve for the entire 13-hour Election Day. In many voting divisions, it is virtually impossible to find Republicans to serve roles reserved for the minority party in this overwhelmingly Democratic town.

Stephanie Singer and Al Schmidt have said that better recruitment strategies and increased civic education will obviate the need to relax the polling place officials’ residency requirement. We are not convinced that this will happen – and furthermore are not persuaded that this even makes sense, at least for the two non-elected officials whose jobs are purely administrative: Clerk and Machine Inspector.

You can markedly improve the current process by:

•   Encouraging citizens of both parties – through public service announcements and community outreach – to seek one of the three elected or two appointed positions instead of relying on ward leaders and committeepeople.
•   Maintaining a public database of individuals who have served on previous Election Boards and can be contacted well in advance of an election to work at the polls.
•   Partnering with the School District of Philadelphia and non-public high schools to recruit exemplary high school seniors to serve as clerks or machine inspectors, as permitted by the Pennsylvania Election Code.
•   Following-up with individuals who indicate on new voter registration forms that they are interested in serving as poll workers on Election Day.

2. REQUIRE TRAINING FOR ALL POLLING PLACE OFFICIALS

The City Commissioners offer training sessions for polling place officials, but attendance is not compulsory, especially for officials who have worked the polls for many years. There are no consequences for failing to attend.

On November 8, Seventy was alerted to various instances where inaccurate information was given by polling place officials. These involved misunderstandings about the proper use of
provisional ballots, voter identifications requirements and the ability of all voters to select candidates not within their own political party.

You should require mandatory training sessions for polling place officials, at least every other year for repeat workers. Trainings should be made available online for those with internet access; those without internet access should be offered in-person training sessions at convenient locations across the city.

You should also revise the “Guide for Election Officers in Philadelphia County” that is distributed to all polling places. This densely worded document in a newspaper format should be replaced with an easy-to-use, indexed manual that can be downloaded from the Commissioners’ website.

* * *

As the overseers of elections in Pennsylvania’s largest city, you can also play a leading role in the debate on issues that impact voters across the Commonwealth.

Largely provoked by the upcoming presidential election, fierce battles on voting rights are happening around the country. Pennsylvania is among them.

Carol Aichele, Governor Corbett’s Secretary of State in charge of elections, has promised aggressive efforts to combat voter fraud both at the polls and through absentee ballots. A bill has been passed by the state House, and is pending in the state Senate, to require voters to present government-issued photo identification every single time they go to vote. If passed by the Senate, Governor Corbett will sign it.

According to national studies, this major change from the current law would impact many Philadelphians, notably individuals in low-income areas and minority groups who national studies have shown are more likely to be without an acceptable identification (a driver’s license or U.S. passport).

Both Stephanie Singer and Al Schmidt have publicly stated their concerns with the voter ID legislation, in Schmidt’s case with its cost and implementation. They should take their concerns to Harrisburg on this, and on other issues relating to access to voting, alternative voting options and other bills that are pending in the state legislature.