City GOP seeking balance

Linda A. Kerns is cochair of the Southeastern Pennsylvania chapter of the Republican National Lawyers Association

Democrats are used to running things in Philadelphia, especially on Election Day. With many polling places having zero Republican workers, Democrats are free to appoint family and friends to election board slots.

This year, the GOP wanted more balance at the city polling places - something state law encourages - and 307 brave Republicans stepped up. When we appeared for their polling-place certificates, prior to Election Day, the attorney for the Democratic City Committee objected to all 307 petitions on a variety of grounds, including that we could not prove that many of our proposed workers were literate. (It's ironic that Democrats seemed to be trying to bring back a literacy test for voting.) The court overruled every objection and, after two days of back-and-forth, we were the proud owners of 307 court-ordered certificates.

Still, as was widely reported in the national news, at 6 a.m. on Election Day almost 100 Republican poll workers were told, in no uncertain terms, to go home by their Democratic counterparts. Despite my petition, the Election Court judge refused to issue an order directing that any persons with valid minority inspector certificates be permitted their rightful seat in their voting districts.

Instead, urged on by attorneys for various Democratic factions, the judge insisted that I prove each case. I had to retrieve the original petitions from the clerk of court, check each individual voter registration with the City Commissioners Office, and type up orders for the judge's signature.

The same process had already been completed to secure the original certificates, but the court and the Democrats insisted we prove again that our people - now shivering outside polling places - had been duly credentialed. Hours later, we had cajoled and negotiated our way back into about half of the polling places, and we received court orders for the rest. But what damage had been done in the meantime? We'll never know.

Would the placement of Republican poll watchers have made any difference in President Obama's landslide win in Philadelphia? Obviously not. However, in between presidential years, the city holds three general elections and three primaries. Turnout can be about 20 percent, and some races are decided by razor-thin margins. A couple of stolen votes, in just a few of the more than 1,600 voting precincts, could change an outcome.

This isn't just Republicans vs. Democrats. In off years, what I usually witness in Election Court is one Democratic faction complaining about another. The same lawyers who stand by when Republicans are victims of Democratic shenanigans indignantly petition the court to stop nefarious activity of their Democratic brethren. I've heard complaints about people, sometimes candidates, accompanying voters into the booth and helping them push the buttons. Other candidates have been accused of threatening poll workers.

It seems the very same election officials who throw Republicans out of polling places during general elections show the same disregard for fellow Democrats, and the democratic process, during contested primaries.

A party that is used to running things can operate this way. Nevertheless, the Republicans will be back in the spring, and every election thereafter. Of course, it will be more difficult to assure our recruits that things will go smoother next time. But will they? That depends on curtailing illegal activity of the Democratic machine.