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Read the news of the day in less than 10 minutes — not that we’re counting.
It’s been a fairly typical Election Day so far, meaning sample ballots are causing controversy, union guys’ heads are featured on sticks and a few polling place shenanigans have creeped up in South Philly.
Here’s a quick roundup of the main storylines:
Standard ‘electioneering’ in South Philly
The District Attorney’s Office has 57 attorneys and detectives on hand to take care of any voting-related issues. This morning, it fielded about two dozen calls it considered serious, an amount spokesperson Cameron Kline said is typical for a municipal election.
They’ve mainly been about “electioneering,” things like sample ballots, t-shirts or other literature being dispensed inside or too close to polling places. There have also been a few complaints of voter assistance.
Most of the calls have circulated from a certain region of the city:
“If I had to pick a spot,” Kline said, “more South Philly than not.”
Sample ballot switch-a-roo
The Democratic City Committee didn’t endorse a District Attorney candidate this year, leaving endorsements up to individual wards and even divisions. Pre-election, there was a lot of varied support throughout the city, and it appears several wards changed their picks at the last minute, with sample ballots featuring a DA candidate not originally supported by the ward.
Reporters Holly Otterbein and Max Marin have been keeping track of these switches.
In the 47th District, Tariq El-Shabazz had originally been chosen, but a sample ballot was being handed out featuring Jack O’Neill.
El-Shabazz’s campaign commented via Twitter this afternoon there had been a typo on sample ballots:
And sometimes, apparently, it just takes a volunteer to get a diehard fan of one candidate to make a last-minute switch:
Low turnout?
We won’t know the numbers until later — municipal elections like this tend to get around 15 percent turnout — but things aren’t looking up in several voting locations.
Heads on a stick!
Yep, just like Local 98 did for Mayor Jim Kenney’s victory in 2015, Johnny Doc’s union brought out heads of chosen DA candidate Jack O’Neill today.
Relish over Famous 4th Street Deli
Relish continues to be the popular election hangout location for politicians, replacing the Famous 4th Street Deli. DA candidates El-Shabazz, Joe Khan and Rich Negrin stopped by earlier today.
