PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia election officials opened their ninth satellite office Friday. It’s in a shopping center at 61st Street and Woodland Avenue in the heart of a neighborhood known as Africatown.
Commission Chair Omar Sabir says it’s one of the lowest voter turn-out areas in the city but the satellite office is meant to increase opportunities to vote.
“These locations are open to the public, accessible to public transportation, in touch with the community and our workers are from the community,” Sabir said.
City Council provided funding to open 10 permanent satellite offices — one in each council district. They’re open seven days a week, with services including registration, mail-in ballot application, and drop-off.
Sabir says Philadelphia is the only county he knows of offering the service.
“Election administrators across the country call Philadelphia crazy,” Sabir said. “We have the mail program, the satellite offices, and we’re going to have 700 polling locations open and it’s really, basically, due to the demand.”
State Representative Joanna McClinton says she hopes the community will take advantage of them.
“We fight every day to make voting easier because there are so many that would take it back to a time where our votes don’t count and we can’t even get to the polls,” McClinton said.
Turn-out in Philadelphia could be a deciding factor in the presidential race.