VOTER TURNOUT: Commr. Singer’s Dream

The fact 500,000 eligible Philadelphia voters failed to do their civic duty and cast their votes in the November 2010 election has given the new chair of the City Commissioners, Stephanie Singer, one of her goals in office – increasing voter turnout.

“Philadelphia voters must understand they can, by fuller participation, have a say as to who runs what in the state of Pennsylvania as well as this city,” she says.

She feels the Nov. 2010 election was a lost opportunity for Philadelphians. The lower-than-expected turnout resulted in a Republican Governor and a Republican US Senator winning offices – which an easy-to attain larger voter turnout could have precluded.

As a result, she explains, “Our city and its institutions and people are finding themselves on the short end of economic decisions made by the Governor and the legislature. The need for larger turnouts here affects both Republicans and Democrats as well as the other minority parties. The more they can turn out, the better their results and the more important becomes their say in State political and economic decisions.”

One early policy change has been to institute a temporary worker policy that reflects what it takes to successfully manage elections. Temp workers are a necessary part of the County Board of Elections, helping in everything from voter registration processing to activities on the day of elections.

Surprisingly, there was no formal hiring process in place when Singer arrived to work on Jan. 2. “We believe the civil service supervisors should inform the decisions about how many temps are actually needed, and what kind of skills they want their temps to require. We need to know that anyone we hire understands what is expected of them and what their responsibilities are,” she said. “With more input from the staff regarding these hires, we will be better able to manage temps and ensure they are helping us fulfill our goal of ensuring fair and well managed effective elections.” Singer is also interested in attracting more people to election boards.  One of the issues that arises each election cycle that has attracted scrutiny from the Comptroller’s Office and others is a longstanding tradition of paying election board workers for multiple positions served on election day.  Ideally, each division in the city would be fully staffed on election day so that double pay becomes unnecessary, although Singer understands changes won’t happen overnight.

Attracting more people to election boards would also help with another problem the Commission has identified, of election board workers working polls in divisions outside their resident district.   In certain circumstances, election board workers from outside divisions are used to fill in where vacancies arise.  Wards with universities, such as the 27th, find it particularly difficult to staff polls with residents from the same the division.  “At the end of the day,” says Singer, “we need to make sure elections run smoothly.  That’s the first priority of the office.”

To help mitigate the need for outside poll workers, Singer says she wants to build a dedicated pool of volunteers to draw from who understand the need for civic involvement and are willing to take on the daylong responsibilities.  Singer quickly acknowledges the “good job ward leaders do in recruiting workers for the election process.”  She knows from experience, having been the Democrat leader of the 8th Ward.

She noted, “The help the Commissioners get from Democrat and Republican ward leaders is immeasurable. They insure election boards are fully manned, polling sites are checked out, division judges have picked up the binders and other necessary paraphernalia to operate the polls election day, the poll entrances are open and ready to function at 7 a.m., electricity is supplied to voting machines, even down to making sure tables and chairs are available to the election board. They work hard to make their voters know where their polling places are located, particularly when we must move some from election to election. Their services are invaluable.”

Singer sees the role of the City Commissioners as key to insuring voters have no pitfall facing them should they wish to register and exercise their voting right. That is one of the reasons she opposes Republican-led efforts in Harrisburg to impose photo IDs as a prerequisite to vote.

“In the end, the taxpayers will find they are paying another bill for a photo-ID program which will have little or no effect on insuring integrity in the voting process.” She said estimates indicate taxpayers will have to foot a $4 million bill.

The tradition that the minority Republican Commissioner supports the incumbent Democrat for Chairman of the three-person group ended when the three were sworn into office this January. Republican Commissioner Al Schmidt helped break the mold, casting his vote for fellow-newcomer Stephanie Singer to become chair. Incumbent Democrat Commissioner Anthony Clark, rather than contest that vote, made her election unanimous.

Both Schmidt and Singer had campaigned they would make the Commissioners’ offices more transparent, especially providing relevant information to ward leaders and voters via the internet if possible. Look for a major update in the Commissioners’ website.

She notes, as an example, “While they can still stop by City Hall or Spring Garden to request paper copies of publicly available documents, Ward leaders no longer have to visit our offices at Delaware & Spring Garden to get various kinds of information they normally need to enable them to fill the boards.  We are encouraging people to request information in a digital format to help reduce the cost of printing.”

Though she plans to place as much information as possible on the internet, she fully understands and supports the fact some of the key functions under her aegis include keeping up the paper trails required for “accurate records of petitions, challenges, even down to the numbers in an old coffee can used by candidates in pulling for their ballot positions,” she notes. “Maintaining intact the actual documents and making them available to all is key.”

Stephanie knows how to count votes. She knows the importance of numbers, especially when it comes to determining the outcome of elections. A Yale alumnus, Singer has a doctorate in mathematics as well as a degree in computer sciences. She spent 11 years teaching mathematics at Haverford College.

Singer spent her childhood in D.C., through her high-school years. That’s where she got her first taste of politics at the age of eight, knocking at doors with her dad, who was campaigning for his law partner Sergeant Shriver. What she remembers most about that day was wearing a t-shirt with “’Vote Shriver’ and a tennis racquet on it.”

Invariably she found herself signing on with interesting campaigns as “a walk-in volunteer, stuffing envelopes, manning phones and whatever else was needed.”  She managed in 2004 “to donate two whole months to the Kerry-Edwards campaign” for the country’s top office.

But what sold her on committing to ward and city politics in this city was an entire election day she spent as a volunteer in the 2005 election, working the 4th Division of the 8th Ward. “I spent a delightful day with the division’s two committee people, who were political masters, each in his own right: Gregory Harvey and Sam Hopkins. They hooked me.” Political leaders know their names well.

It didn’t take long for her to become the leader of that “independent” ward, the post from which she finally vaulted into a primary upset over the long-time leader of the City Commissioners, the Hon. Marge Tartaglione. From that primary, it was an easy victory to the Commissioners’ office in November.

Here again, Stephanie Singer has gone her own way from the tradition of ward leaders, elected to office, who retained their ward posts. She resigned from the 8th Ward leadership, having promised that to her supporters. “I wanted no conflict to arise with my desire to make the City Commissioners offices totally responsive to the needs of the voters of this city,” she explains. “Being a ward leader would take from my sense of full-time commitment.”

Her colleague Schmidt has also followed her example by resigning as Republican 38th Ward leader.

She understands holding the leadership of a ward such as the 8th, which has a history of bringing out big voter turnouts, was key to her being able to draw support from like-minded ward leaders. It would have kept her “in the loop” with future party caucuses, should she intend to run again. Now, minus that, she says, “My job performance, I believe, will help me win the party’s endorsement next time around.”

Though she targeted long-time Chair Margaret Tartaglione in her primary campaign, she says, “Marge gave many, many years of service to the City.  I respect her.  We talked by phone and I know she is willing to furnish us with the kind of history we might need to make sound decisions in the future.”

Her one worry for now is how to keep the money coming in to maintain the 4,000 electronic voting machines in her care. Federal money is running out. “When that source dries up, we will need the State and City to come forward,” she adds, saying “That’s part of our lobbying efforts.”

Stephanie Singer understands her role: to lead. She has also earned the initial respect of her employees, who have indicated, “She listens as well as she commands.”

STEPHANIE SINGER ... knows her way.

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