👀 Swing-state envy | Morning Newsletter

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Good morning, Philly. Perhaps the spookiest thing about Halloween this year is the weather: Expect near-record warmth as temps approach 80.

To celebrate the holiday, we’re visiting the creepy-in-a-good-way End Times Boutique oddities shop in Kensington, where Philly’s “unique and feral spirit” is on display.

But first, New Jersey voters with swing-state envy are knocking on doors in Pennsylvania’s “Trump alley.” Our top story examines what it’s like to live in a place that isn’t the center of the political universe. Plus, we have a neat visual story demystifying how mail-in ballots are processed.

Find these stores and more below.

— Julie Zeglen (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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New Jersey is decidedly not a swing state, with 55% of its state’s voters favoring Vice President Kamala Harris compared with 35% for former President Donald Trump, according to a recent poll.

👀 That’s led to some interstate jealousy among voters who see all the attention neighboring Pennsylvania — which their own senator called the “swingiest” swing state — is getting this election cycle. Some Jersey Democrats are channeling their envy into canvassing in red areas like Monroe County.

👀 “We house volunteers from Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New York, California, and New Jersey, of course,” said one Jerseyan who relocated to the commonwealth for a month to oversee canvassing efforts.

👀 Meanwhile, some Republicans say, at least publicly, that the race to win the Garden State isn’t over.

Reporter Amy S. Rosenberg followed door-knockers along “Trump alley” to find out how Dems are trading Jersey blues for proactivity.

In other Jersey news: Four of the state’s newspapers (and one just across the river in Easton) are ending their print editions, and another is shuttering altogether.

For Adam Hutter, the owner and operator of End Times Boutique and the World Oddities Expo, every day is a little like Halloween.

At his Kensington shop, visitors might stumble upon animal skulls, a tableau made of prosthetic legs, or a 14-foot Nile crocodile rug. At his traveling expo, which began as a local event and now tours the country, attendees might see sword swallowers or vendors who specialize in taxidermy.

They’re both a modern example of the ancient “royal treasuries” where people could learn about the wider, weirder world beyond their front door.

Columnist Stephanie Farr visited the boutique for her latest We the People profile.

More Halloween-y hijinks: If you’ve lived in the area for a while, you might remember Oct. 30, 1991, when Mischief Night escalated into mayhem in Camden.

Over two million mail-in ballots have been requested in Pennsylvania alone. Though 1.5 million have already been received — fewer than at this point in 2020 — we won’t know the state’s results until a few days after Election Day.

What happens to them once they’re received by a county? How are they verified? Where are they kept until Nov. 5? And why does counting them take so long?

See what ballot processing looks like via this story from Lauren Schneiderman and Charmaine Runes.

The latest ballot news: A new ruling on undated ballots in Pennsylvania has injected confusion and uncertainty into the final days of the 2024 campaign. And the state Democratic Party sued Erie County’s board of elections over up to 20,000 missing mail ballots.

Further reading: On Election Day, poll workers will be in the spotlight. Inquirer opinion editor Devi Lockwood spoke to several in Bucks County about why they’re drawn to such an important, thankless, and increasingly dangerous role. And Inquirer editorial writer Daniel Pearson, who helped count ballots at the Convention Center in 2020 before he became a journalist, recalls the intimidation the city’s election workers faced then.

The tiny, beloved Faragalli’s Bakery in South Philly is set to reopen after shutting down in April. Why did it close then?

A) Zoning dispute

B) Oven collapse

C) Lack of funding

D) Founder’s death

Think you know? Check your answer.

🎄 Visiting: The Christmas Village when it returns to LOVE Park in November.

⚾ Assessing: The results of our stay-or-go Phillies poll (sorry, Taijuan Walker).

🍴 Dining at: Philly’s next generation of classic restaurants (except Honeysuckle Provisions, which has closed to become Honeysuckle next year).

The Northeast Philadelphia section where the city operated a prison from 1896 until 1995

GEL RHOMBUS

Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Bonnie Coccagna, who solved Wednesday’s anagram: Carroll Park. It’s one of 100 city parks in need of volunteers to help clean up and collect leaves during Love Your Park Fall Weekend.

💣 One last slimy thing: Philly’s newest team-building experience is Beat the Bomb, and while there are no explosions involved, there is a lot of green gunk. See how a team of Inquirer staffers fared when they tried it.

Enjoy your Halloween! I’ll see you back here tomorrow.

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