1 1 MEETING OF THE COMMISSIONERS 2 * * * * 3 Wednesday, October 16, 2013 4 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 5 * * * * 6 COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: ANTHONY CLARK, Chairman 7 AL SCHMIDT, Vice Chairman STEPHANIE SINGER, Commissioner 8 DON GARECHT, Deputy Commissioner DENNIS LEE, Deputy Commissioner 9 PRESENT: JOHN DAY, Warehouse Supervisor 10 GARY FERRIS, Poll Material Supervisor DEBORAH MURCHISON, Election and Voter Registration 11 JOSEPH LYNCH, Election Material TIM DOWLING, Documents 12 GREGORY IRVING, Data Support Supervisor SETH BLUESTEIN 13 GREGG KRAVITZ BRIAN BARRY, Committee of Seventy 14 CARLOS MATOS, Ward Leader 19th Ward JULIA LAVENDER 15 GEORGE VAN NORTON 16 HELD AT: Delaware and Spring Garden Streets Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 17 REPORTED BY: 18 Renée Helmar, Shorthand Reporter 19 20 * * * * 21 CLASS ACT COURT REPORTING AGENCY 22 Registered Professional Reporters 1420 Walnut Street 133 Gaither Drive 23 Suite 1201 Suite H Philadelphia, PA 19102 Mt. Laurel, NJ 08054 24 (215) 928-9760 (856) 235-5108 2 1 (Whereupon, the proceeding began 2 at approximately 11:00 a.m.) 3 MR. CHAIRMAN: Good morning, everyone. 4 (Whereupon, there was a 5 collective response.) 6 MR. CHAIRMAN: Today is Wednesday, October 16, 7 2013. This is the Sunshine Meeting, and it is in session 8 now. 9 Public comments. 10 (Whereupon, there was no 11 response.) 12 MR. CHAIRMAN: Old business. 13 (Whereupon, there was no 14 response.) 15 MR. CHAIRMAN: Okay. John Day, please. 16 MR. DAY: Right now we have all the even machines 17 are all tested and done. 18 The odd cartridges are done up to the 50th Ward. 19 And we have the odd machines tested up to the 42nd Ward. 20 And, hopefully, we will be done by Saturday or Sunday all 21 the testing. 22 And we'll start picking the machines up on Monday, 23 okay. 24 And Friday, the 25th, is the open house again for 3 1 the inspection of machines. It starts at 10:00. 2 Everything is right on time. 3 MR. CHAIRMAN: Okay. Sounds good. 4 Gary Ferris, please. 5 MR. FERRIS: Good morning, Commissioners. 6 We're progressing as normal. 7 This afternoon we have nine polling place change 8 hearings at one o'clock here in this room. After that, 9 everything needs to get put in the system. 10 Right now my main goal is to make sure I get the 11 printouts ready for the truckers so that they can pick them 12 up tomorrow morning. 13 So, hopefully, I can get everything done without a 14 lot of interruptions this afternoon and get all that done 15 once the decisions are made on all these polling place 16 changes. 17 Other than that, we are moving forward like we 18 usually do. 19 MR. CHAIRMAN: Okay. Ms. Murchison, please. 20 MS. MURCHISON: Good morning, Commissioners. 21 Last week we were at Masterman High School. 22 Our total was 373. 23 That's all I have. 24 Three hundred and seventy-three board members that 4 1 came out. 2 MR. CHAIRMAN: Okay. Thank you. 3 Joe Lynch, please. 4 MR. LYNCH: Good morning, Commissioners. 5 We completed printing the provisional ballots. 6 We're still working on packing them. 7 We are also completed working on the sample 8 ballots, any requests that come in. Plus the ones that go 9 in the box. 10 And the watcher requests, they're coming, but 11 they're very slow. 12 And I just want to remind people, they can also 13 download an application for the watcher request on the new 14 Web site. 15 MR. CHAIRMAN: Okay. Sounds good. 16 MR. LYNCH: And that's it. 17 MR. CHAIRMAN: All right. Tim Dowling, please. 18 MR. DOWLING: Saturday we had our bilingual 19 training. We had 65 people show up. Four of them were new. 20 Two Spanish, one Chinese and one Mandarin. And they were 21 all certified. And we will use them in the November 22 Election. 23 Absentee ballots, absentee applications that we 24 received up until yesterday, 674. The ballots that we have 5 1 received back so far, 161. And we've mailed out a total of 2 4,611 absentee ballots. 3 And that's all I have. 4 MR. CHAIRMAN: Okay. Greg Irving, please. 5 MR. IRVING: Good morning, Commissioners. 6 COMMISSIONER SINGER: Good morning. 7 MR. CHAIRMAN: Good morning. 8 MR. IRVING: Since the close of election we 9 received 509 applications which have timely postmark. And 10 they have all been processed, okay. 11 The absentees that Tim Dowling has been sending up 12 to us, we're running them out on a daily basis. 13 We have 112 which are currently being processed 14 downstairs. 15 We received 1,060 electronic applications from the 16 State since last week. But out of that 1,060, I think there 17 are only about 75 of those that had -- we've received in a 18 timely manner. 19 They still send them through to us and all, but we 20 don't do anything with them. 21 Probably in a few days Kevin Richardson will have 22 his people start putting them in as being ineligible, too 23 late, and that will generate a letter to them to go out to 24 those people letting them know, that you did apply to 6 1 register, but it was received too late. And you will be 2 eligible for the upcoming Primary Election in 2014. 3 Street lists. Our first delivery of street lists 4 are expected some point in time today. 5 Our vendors picked up the CD on Monday. 6 On Monday they sent us a proof that night, and we 7 looked it over. Everything is fine. 8 They started production. We'll get a delivery 9 today, continued on throughout the rest of the week. 10 They'll be available for the public on Monday. On 11 Monday they'll be available. By that time we'll have 12 everything in, okay. 13 The contract calls for them to have everything 14 delivered to us no later than Monday. 15 So, that's when we'll be getting the first street 16 list. 17 Poll Books. The vendors want to pick off the Poll 18 Books on the Friday, the 18th. 19 We actually have leeway on that. We can actually 20 use Saturday, but we told them Friday. And if we decide to 21 go Saturday they said to just give them a call and they'll 22 start to pick those off. 23 Other than that, that's about it, okay. 24 We still got the bulk of our people working on 7 1 filing and pulling applications. Keeping them busy. 2 And that concludes my report. 3 MR. CHAIRMAN: Okay. 4 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: You really seem to turn the 5 registrations around pretty quickly. 6 MR. IRVING: Well, this is -- this is an election 7 where people say, what? There is an election coming up, you 8 know. 9 As long as we don't have 40,000, we don't have to 10 break neck to do them. 11 But -- 12 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: We got calls from people 13 really impressed. They turned their registration in Monday, 14 and they got their card a couple days later. 15 MR. IRVING: Yeah. Also, I think that I did talk 16 to all of you, or someone in your office, the problem that 17 we had with our folding machine. That had been fixed, and 18 last week we mailed out 22,000 voter ID cards, okay. So 19 everything is currently up to date. 20 We probably got about 2100 which will go out in 21 today's or tomorrow's mail. 22 Thank you. 23 MR. CHAIRMAN: Okay. Thank you, Greg. 24 Okay. New business. 8 1 (Whereupon, there was no 2 response.) 3 MR. CHAIRMAN: Okay. This meeting is adjourned to 4 the call of the Chair. Thank you. Until one o'clock. 5 (Whereupon, there was a brief 6 recess.) 7 (Whereupon, the meeting 8 reconvened at approximately 1:00 9 p.m.) 10 MR. CHAIRMAN: Okay. We'll come to order. Today 11 is October 16th. This is the poll workers meeting. This 12 meeting, now, is in session. 13 Gary Ferris. 14 MR. FERRIS: Okay. We're going to do the 19th 15 Ward first since the ward leader is here. 16 So, the first change is for the 19th Ward; 6th 17 Division, moving the polling place from 6th and Indiana, the 18 Potter Thomas School, to 2800 North American Street, the 19 Congreso Education Training Center. 20 And the reason is voter convenience into an 21 accessible building. 22 And the request is from the Democratic Ward Leader 23 Carlos Matos. 24 MR. MATOS: Because we want to move it to Harcum 9 1 School, which is a training center in 2800 block of North 2 American Street. 3 MR. FERRIS: Right. 4 That's what I have, yes. 5 MR. MATOS: 2800 block -- 6 MR. FERRIS: Yes. 7 MR. MATOS: -- for 6 and 7. 8 MR. FERRIS: For six and seven, correct. 9 MR. MATOS: Okay. Thank you. 10 MR. FERRIS: Right. Yeah. 11 That's the place that you and Leroy went to; 12 right? 13 MR. MATOS: Yes, sir. 14 MR. FERRIS: Yeah. 15 MR. MATOS: American Street -- 16 MR. FERRIS: Yes. 17 MR. MATOS: -- 2800. 18 MR. FERRIS: Yes. 19 MR. MATOS: Okay. 20 MR. FERRIS: That's what I have, yeah. 21 MR. MATOS: I don't know where they got Potter 22 Thomas from. 23 MR. FERRIS: No. 24 That's where it is coming out of. 10 1 MR. MATOS: Oh, thank you. 2 MR. FERRIS: Okay. And you can approach and state 3 your position for the -- for the change. Let the 4 Commissioners know if you're for or against it. 5 MR. CHAIRMAN: State your name for the record. 6 MR. MATOS: My name is Carlos Matos, C-A-R-L-O-S 7 M-A-T-O-S, 19th Ward Leader. 8 I would like to get it closer to the people 9 because the vote has dropped drastically since we've moved 10 them because they were not handicapped accessible places in 11 the divisions. 12 So, six and seven are closer to, like, American 13 and Somerset, I believe it is. So we would like to see the 14 polling place there. 15 And then on 11, we're putting it close to where it 16 used to be. 17 Also, there the voting has dropped. We want it 18 where people have more access to it. 19 So, it's handicapped accessible. 20 We appreciate it. 21 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: And it is not moving it out 22 of the division; right? 23 MR. MATOS: No, sir. 24 As a matter of fact, it is moving some into the 11 1 division. 2 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: So it is moving it into the 3 division. 4 MR. MATOS: Yes, sir. 5 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: So, it's moving from 19;5 6 to 19;9. 7 MR. MATOS: No. 8 19;6 and 7 to 6. 9 MR. CHAIRMAN: Where you at, Gary? 10 MR. FERRIS: Okay. There's no opposition to this. 11 MR. CHAIRMAN: Approve. 12 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: I vote in favor. 13 MR. CHAIRMAN: I vote in favor. 14 COMMISSIONER SINGER: I vote in favor. 15 MR. FERRIS: Okay. And then for 19;7, the request 16 is to move the polling place out of Fairhill Community High 17 School at 2820 North 4th Street into 2800 North American 18 Street, the Congreso Education Training Center. 19 And the reason is the same, voter convenience into 20 an accessible building. 21 And there is no opposition to this one. 22 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: And this is also not moving 23 out of the division; right? 24 MR. FERRIS: Correct. 12 1 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: It's not in this division. 2 MR. FERRIS: Correct. 3 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: Okay. I vote in favor. 4 MR. CHAIRMAN: I vote in favor. 5 COMMISSIONER SINGER: I vote in favor. 6 MR. FERRIS: And the next one is for the 19th 7 Ward; 11th Division, moving the polling place out of the 8 Hunter School at 2400 North Front Street into 2536 North 9 Front Street, the storefront. 10 The reason is to move it back into the division 11 into an accessible building. 12 And there's no opposition to this one. 13 MR. CHAIRMAN: I approve. 14 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: I vote in favor. 15 COMMISSIONER SINGER: I vote in favor. 16 MR. CHAIRMAN: I vote in favor. 17 MR. FERRIS: Okay. So all three of them moved. 18 MR. MATOS: Thank you very much. Thank you. 19 MR. CHAIRMAN: Thanks for coming. 20 MR. FERRIS: And, Carlos, if you need any signs, 21 you could stop on the fifth floor and get some signs. 22 MR. MATOS: Okay. Thank you. 23 MR. FERRIS: Okay. The next one is going to be 24 for the 13th Ward; 25th Division, moving the polling place 13 1 from 19th and Butler Streets, the Cleveland School, to 3600 2 North Broad Street, the Zion Baptist Church. 3 The reason is to move it back into the division 4 into an accessible building. 5 And the request is from the Democratic Ward 6 Leader, Rosetta Youngblood. 7 And is there people here from the division that 8 would like to speak? 9 MS. LAVENDER: Yes. 10 If I may. 11 MR. FERRIS: Sure. Come forward, give your name 12 to the stenographer, and you tell the Commissioners. 13 MS. LAVENDER: Okay. My name is Julia, last name 14 is Lavender. 15 I'm new to this -- 16 MR. CHAIRMAN: Okay. 17 MS. LAVENDER: -- and I just have a few questions. 18 MR. FERRIS: Sure. 19 MS. LAVENDER: I've always voted at Cleveland 20 School. About 46 years. Or at least as long as it's been 21 there. And I don't have any opposition to Zion Baptist 22 Church having a polling place, but given the fact that so 23 many people do not come out to vote and you're taking -- I 24 can't imagine how many people that are going to have to be 14 1 moved from 19th and Erie to go to Broad and Venango, you 2 know. 3 Is there a reason that you're moving it other than 4 the request of Mr. (sic) Youngblood? 5 MR. FERRIS: Well -- 6 MS. LAVENDER: I know that there's steps at 7 Cleveland, but I don't know if there's any other 8 accessibility for handicaps. 9 MR. FERRIS: There is not an accessibility issue 10 at the Cleveland School. The issue was, that to move it 11 back into the division would possibly increase the amount of 12 voters that might come out because you're moving it closer 13 to the people in the division. 14 MS. LAVENDER: Well, what about the people -- I 15 mean, aren't we all in the 25th Division? 16 MR. FERRIS: No. 17 The Cleveland School voters is in the 20th 18 Division. 19 MS. LAVENDER: Is in the 20th? 20 MR. FERRIS: That's where the school sits, in the 21 20th Division. 22 MS. LAVENDER: Okay. 23 MR. FERRIS: So, you're moving it closer from 24 where you can't get to if you don't live in that division, 15 1 into a division where the people actually live. So there 2 might be a greater turnout at the school. 3 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: So, right now it's -- 4 MR. FERRIS: The church. I'm sorry, the church. 5 MS. LAVENDER: I'm confused. 6 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: It's two divisions -- 7 MS. LAVENDER: It's two divisions. 8 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: -- two precincts away from 9 it's home division. 10 MS. LAVENDER: Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: This move looks like it 12 moves it back into it's home division. 13 MS. LAVENDER: Because I know that at one time we 14 voted at Cleveland and they also voted at Kenderton School. 15 So, the Kenderton School no longer has a polling 16 place there? 17 MR. FERRIS: Correct. 18 MS. LAVENDER: So the only polling place for those 19 two divisions is at Cleveland; is that what you're saying to 20 me? 21 MR. FERRIS: Correct. No. No. No. 22 Cleveland School currently has three or four 23 divisions voting in it. So it's not affecting anything 24 that's voting at Cleveland other than 13;25. 16 1 MS. LAVENDER: But you're closing Cleveland. 2 MR. FERRIS: No. 3 Cleveland is not being closed. 4 MS. LAVENDER: Oh. They're still going to have -- 5 MR. FERRIS: Those people will still be voting 6 there in the other divisions. 7 MS. LAVENDER: Okay. 8 See, that wasn't what I -- because it says on 9 the -- on the notice on the church that you're going to be 10 change -- moving it from Cleveland to Zion Baptist Church. 11 MR. FERRIS: Correct. 12 But just for the 13th Ward; 25th Division. 13 MS. LAVENDER: Gotcha. Gotcha. I understand now. 14 MR. FERRIS: Okay. 15 MS. LAVENDER: Okay. All right. I'm good now. 16 MR. CHAIRMAN: All right. Thank you. 17 MR. VAN NORTON: I have a question. 18 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: Sure. 19 MR. CHAIRMAN: State your name for the record. 20 MR. VAN NORTON: George Van Norton. I'm the 21 church administrator at Zion Baptist Church. 22 And we, on behalf of our pastor, made the initial 23 contact with the City Commissioners' Office to provide an 24 additional option for the people in our area. And that's 17 1 why I'm here. 2 That's all. 3 MR. FERRIS: Thank you. And we appreciate the use 4 of your church. 5 MR. VAN NORTON: Sure. 6 MR. FERRIS: Okay. So, there is currently no -- 7 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: And the Republican ward 8 leader -- 9 MR. FERRIS: -- opposition to this. 10 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: I vote in favor. 11 MR. CHAIRMAN: I vote in favor. 12 COMMISSIONER SINGER: I vote in favor. 13 MR. FERRIS: Okay. So, the voting will commence 14 at your facility this election, okay. 15 The truckers will contact you when they're ready 16 to deliver the machines, give you a call. 17 MR. VAN NORTON: Thank you. 18 MR. FERRIS: Okay. Thanks for coming today. 19 MR. VAN NORTON: Sure. 20 MR. FERRIS: Okay. We will go to 23rd Ward; 1st 21 Division, moving the polling place from Large and Arrott 22 Streets, the Simpson Rec Center, to 4290 Penn Street. The 23 current name is actually the Sankofa Academy Charter School. 24 On the petition it says Northwood, but the name has been 18 1 changed to the Sankofa, S-A-N-K-O-F-A Academy Charter 2 School. 3 The reason is voter convenience into an accessible 4 building. 5 And the request is from the Democratic Ward Leader 6 Dan Savage. 7 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: Is this 23;1? 8 MR. FERRIS: Yes. 9 One, two and three. 10 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: Okay. I vote in favor. 11 MR. CHAIRMAN: I vote in favor. 12 COMMISSIONER SINGER: I vote in favor. 13 MR. FERRIS: Okay. And the next one is also the 14 same move for the 23rd Ward; 2nd Division, moving it from 15 the Simpson Rec Center into the Sankofa Academy Charter 16 School. And this one actually moves it back into the 17 division into an accessible building. 18 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: I vote in favor. 19 MR. CHAIRMAN: I vote in favor. 20 COMMISSIONER SINGER: I vote in favor. 21 MR. FERRIS: And then for the 23rd Ward; 3rd 22 Division, also moving the polling place from Simpson Rec 23 Center into the Sankofa Academy Charter School for voter 24 convenience into an accessible building. 19 1 MR. CHAIRMAN: I vote in favor. 2 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: I vote in favor. 3 COMMISSIONER SINGER: I vote in favor. 4 MR. FERRIS: The next one is for the 34th Ward; 5 1st Division, moving the polling place from 6223 Market 6 Street, the barber shop, to 6122 Market Street, another 7 barber shop. 8 And the reason is voter convenience into an 9 accessible building. 10 And the request is from the Democratic Ward Leader 11 Robert Brady. 12 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: It looks like it moves it 13 from one -- 14 MR. FERRIS: It actually moves it closer by moving 15 it right across the street from the division -- 16 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: Yes. 17 MR. FERRIS: -- instead of down the street. 18 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: I vote in favor. 19 MR. CHAIRMAN: I vote in favor. 20 COMMISSIONER SINGER: I vote in favor. 21 MR. FERRIS: Okay. The next one is for the 46th 22 Ward; 10th Division, moving the polling place from 5147 23 Catherine Street, the storefront, to 5025 Baltimore Avenue, 24 the storefront. 20 1 And the reason is handicapped accessibility. And 2 this is following the Federal ADA Guidelines. The current 3 polling place is not accessible. 4 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: And it's moving it, like, 5 half a block; right? 6 MR. FERRIS: Right. 7 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: It's pretty close. 8 MR. FERRIS: And I just spoke to Marty from 9 Councilwoman Blackwell's office, and they're now on board 10 with the move. They're okay with it, so there's no 11 opposition. 12 MR. CHAIRMAN: I vote in favor. 13 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: I vote in favor. 14 COMMISSIONER SINGER: I vote in favor. 15 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: We have two from last week. 16 MR. FERRIS: Yes. 17 We have two that were left from last week we 18 continued. 19 The first one is the 4th Ward; 4th Division, 20 moving the polling place from the Alleyne Memorial Church at 21 1249 North 55th Street into the Conestoga Rec Center at 53rd 22 and Media Streets. 23 And this is a request due to the Federal ADA 24 Guidelines. 21 1 And the reason is handicapped accessibility. 2 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: You offered them time -- 3 MR. FERRIS: We offered them a week to find an 4 alternative, and we've heard nothing back from them. 5 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: I vote in favor. 6 MR. CHAIRMAN: I vote in favor. 7 COMMISSIONER SINGER: I vote in favor. 8 MR. FERRIS: And the second one is the 56th Ward; 9 7th Division, moving the polling place from the Crossan 10 School at Bingham and Bleigh Streets, to the Immanuel 11 Lutheran Church at 1013 Cottman Avenue. 12 The reason is handicapped accessibility. Moving 13 it -- or keeping it in the division into an accessible 14 building. 15 And this is a request due to the Federal ADA 16 Guidelines. 17 And this is another one where we had given them a 18 week to come up with an alternative site. But there is 19 no -- there is nothing really available. 20 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: I vote in favor. 21 MR. FERRIS: And that is in the division. 22 MR. CHAIRMAN: I vote in favor. 23 COMMISSIONER SINGER: I vote in favor. 24 MR. CHAIRMAN: Okay. They never got back to us. 22 1 MR. FERRIS: Right. 2 And that concludes polling place change hearings 3 for the General Election of 2013. 4 MR. CHAIRMAN: This meeting is adjourned to the 5 call of the Chair. Thank you. 6 (Whereupon, the proceeding was 7 adjourned at approximately 1:16 8 p.m.) 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 23 1 C E R T I F I C A T E 2 3 I, RENÉE HELMAR, a Shorthand Reporter, and 4 Notary, Public, certify that the foregoing is a true 5 and accurate transcript of the proceedings which 6 were held at the time, place and on the date herein 7 before set forth. 8 I further certify that I am neither 9 attorney, nor counsel for, nor related to or 10 employed by, any of the parties to the action in 11 which these proceedings were taken, and further that 12 I am not a relative or employee of any attorney or 13 counsel employed in this action, nor am I 14 financially interested in this case. 15 16 17 18 19 Renée Helmar 20 Shorthand Reporter 21 22 23 24