PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Unlike the general election six months ago, the Philadelphia City Commissioners are still looking for volunteers to staff more than 700 polling places for Tuesday’s primary.
Philadelphia had thousands more volunteers than they needed in November. This time around, they’re down to the wire and still pleading for help.
Commission chair Lisa Deeley said they have made thousands of calls, but the level of interest just is not there. On top of that, lingering COVID-19 fears are preventing older adults — the majority of election volunteers — from helping out.
“It’s typical,” she said. “It happens, and for this particular off-year election, you know, we saw it after ’16. It’s just the nature of it.”
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Deeley said voter interest also declines in an off-year. The office received about 87,000 mail-in ballot requests for this election, and about 50,000 have been returned so far — compared to 400,000 in November.
If you have a mail-in ballot still sitting around, get it to a drop-off box. You can do so until the in-person polls close at 8 p.m. on Tuesday.
Even with fewer mail-in ballots, Deeley said counting is still a cumbersome process, and she doubts final results will be known before the end of the week.
If you’d like to volunteer to work the polls, call 215-685-4811.
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Voter oversight
Philadelphia’s ballot includes the hotly contested Democratic primary for the district attorney race.
Officials are taking the usual precautions, and voter law enforcement has been turned over to the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General.
Andrew Wellbrock, co-lead prosecutor of the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office Election Task Force, promises a prompt response to voter complaints.
“They have deputy attorneys general and agents that will be available tomorrow,” he said.
Voters can report suspected violations by calling 215-686-9641.