Organization Sends 30K Philadelphia Voters Mailers With Incorrect Polling Information
By Steve Beck, Matt Rivers
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Tens of thousands of voters in Philadelphia could run into trouble on Election Day thanks to some misinformation they received in the mail.
The organization, PA Working Families, a left-leaning political group, sent out approximately 30,000 mailers to voters across the city.
The problem?
Nearly all of them directed voters to the wrong polling place.
"It's a pretty major mistake to have made right before the election and there's very little time to correct it," State Representative Brendan Boyle said.
Kathy McCarthy, a Northeast Philadelphia resident, said she received a mailer telling her to vote in Port Richmond, about five miles from where she always votes.
"Instead of right around the corner where I've voted since 1983. So I knew immediately, 'I'm like something just not right here,'" McCarthy said.
Another Northeast Philly resident told Eyewitness News reporter Matt Rivers that her mailer told her to vote at the Roxborough Memorial Hospital to cast her vote.
"At the last minute, at the last hour, they're given the wrong information and it's infuriating," said City Commissioner Al Schmidt. "They claim that it's an honest mistake. If something like this were done on purpose, there would be a grand jury investigation."
At the time the story aired on CBS 3, the group had not yet responded to our inquiries. After the story ran, Jesse Bacon, Communications Director of PA Working Families, released a statement that read in part:
"Working Families mailed 30,000 occasional voters in Philadelphia to remind them to vote and provide voting times and their polling place locations. When preparing the mailing, we failed to notice an error in how the mail merge was set up, and as a result, many of those postcards give an incorrect polling place. It was a human error, and a big one, but an honest one. We take this error seriously, and we are taking every step possible to correct it. With all the dirty tricks Philadelphia voters have seen, the last thing we would want is to further any confusion."
Bacon said voters can double-check their polling place locations by calling 215-686-1591 or by visiting www.philadelphiavotes.com and clicking the "Where is My Polling Place?" link under the "Voters" menu.
Bacon said the organization has set up a phone bank to call every voter; all their canvassers and volunteers are armed with flyers with information on how to look up polling places; there are coordinating closely with city election officials so they're prepared to help any voter who winds up at the wrong polling place and they gave a list of all the potentially affected wards and divisions to the City Commissioners.
"Again, we deeply regret the error and we are committed to making amends and providing all voters with accurate voting information," Bacon said.
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