This retired teacher is driving a van up and down Broad Street to remind people to vote

With multiple stops along the way, the big white van festooned with American flags and blaring pump-you-up music makes two runs a day down and up Broad Street.

“Vote Philly!” a giant sign reads.

At one landmark or another — the Olney Transportation Center, City Hall — Luigi Borda might hop out, clipboard in hand, intent on his mission: asking people to take a survey about why they vote, or why they don’t.

With a consequential election days away, there are plenty of get-out-the-vote efforts afoot in Pennsylvania, a crucial swing state. But retired Philadelphia teacher Borda’s is unique: He dug into his pocket to buy a used van and is now spending much of his time until Nov. 5 asking people around the city to honk to show appreciation for voting.

Why the grassroots effort?

“I love Philadelphia,” said Borda, a gregarious South Philadelphia resident who taught at Masterman for much of his 30-year career in the Philadelphia School District. “But I am very troubled to hear neighbors, family members, and even spouses fighting over candidates who will come and go.”

People need to hear why sitting out an election can hurt them, Borda believes, and voting twice a year must become a habit; it shouldn’t take a presidential election to draw people to the polls, especially since local elections have a great impact on people’s everyday lives.

Typical voter turnout is low; in most elections, the number of registered voters who do not cast ballots in Philadelphia is greater than those who do.

» READ MORE: Take Luigi Borda's voting habits survey

Flipping that dynamic is “the goal of my lifetime,” said Borda, 58, who once ran 100 miles to Harrisburg to draw legislators’ attention to the need for education funding and who unsuccessfully ran for a city commissioner seat in 2019. “We should have a goal of three out of four voters voting regularly.”

So, Borda drives, speakers blaring. (He has four songs on repeat: the Rocky theme, “Philadelphia Freedom,” “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now,” and “Living in America.”)

And he asks people to take his survey; he is aiming for 1,000 responses and will use the data to help inform Philly Civics 101, a program he developed that matches elected officials with city social studies teachers to help students understand how local government works — and to show them that their participation is important.

On a sunny Thursday, Borda parked near City Hall, then happened to spot State Sen. Sharif Street (D., Philadelphia) walking toward the northeast corner of the building. Borda dashed across the street, flagged Street down, and asked him to scan the survey code and fill in the answers on his phone.

“I appreciate Luigi’s enthusiasm,” said Street, who knows Borda as a Democratic committeeperson. (The survey, and Borda’s efforts, are strictly nonpartisan; he doesn’t ask people who they’re voting for, but whether they learned about voting in school or at home.)

Next, Borda approached a woman who turned out to be Shakeda Gaines, chief of staff for Councilmember Kendra Brooks.

Gaines eagerly took the survey and said she loved Borda’s mission. Long before she started working in politics, Gaines was a regular voter, she said, because of a conversation she once had with a colleague when she worked at a Burger King.

“He said my landlord voted, and the supermarket owner voted, and if I didn’t vote, I had no voice,” said Gaines.

Hardly anyone admits to not voting, Borda said, but everyone has an opinion about why others don’t — they don’t like politicians, some tell him; perhaps they don’t know much about most candidates and issues, or maybe they don’t feel that their vote matters.

But person by person, Borda wants to stem the tide.

Borda loves all Philly sports, so he wants people to think about voting this way: Whether the Sixers win has a lot to do with whether Joel Embiid is healthy; the fans can’t sink a three-point shot or play defense. But a city with more than a million voters has agency.

“But whether or not Philly wins is in our hands,” Borda said. “When Philly votes, Philly wins.”

His Election Day plans are set: Borda is going to drive the perimeter of the city and visit as many neighborhoods as possible, plus at least one polling place in all 69 wards.