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November 6, 2006

ABC6.com

In this politically charged election where there has been so much mudslinging, Action News has heard from a lot of people who are sick and tired of all those election ads, sick and tired of politicians, and just want to get the election over with.

Voters have not been able to escape the relentless political mudslinging whether on TV, radio, newspaper, the mail and not to mention those annoying automated calls on the phone.

And Zac Stalberg of the Committee of Seventy says there continues to be a great deal of anxiety about those electronic voting machines, which have been used in Philadelphia and Montgomery Counties for years but are about to be used in other parts of the state for the first time. The state has put up a website, votes.pa.com which uses animation that shows how the machines work. But then, there's the blogosphere and other critics warning us that those computerized voting machines are vulnerable to computer hackers who want to steal the election.

"I don't think there's any plot or conspiracy of attempt to steal this election," says Stalberg.

Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham added, "Please don't listen to those people who are trying to worry people to death. I think there's just too much belief in the conspiracy theorist."

But the D.A.'s office, the Committee of Seventy and a new breed of volunteer activist watchdog groups will be out monitoring the polls like never before looking for voting irregularities. "We are in contact with the judges, we have our detectives, we have Assistant District attorneys assigned, I'll be here all day," said Abraham. "We (want to) make sure that nobody engages in illegal activity -threats, intimidation."

And the Committee of Seventy is doing everything it can to make sure people get to the polls. "We are trying to do everything we can to drive people to the polls and to increase turnout, it's a terrible thing in the country at the moment, but participation is declining," said Stalberg.

We should note that turnout Tuesday is expected to be greater than usual for an off-presidential election year. And the weather promises to be great, so stay tuned.