It was a quiet Election Day in Easton, with few people turning out to vote in Pennsylvania's primary.
"Worst one I've ever seen," said poll worker Mae Whitman, at the seventh district in the city's West Ward. "We had to struggle to get eight or nine this morning."
By 3:30 p.m., 42 people seventh district residents had to come to the Easton Area to cast their ballot; the center is also the polling place for the sixth ward, which had 45 voters. The two wards each have about 1,000 registered voters.
"Every chance to vote, people should take advantage," lamented ninth ward judge of elections Jill Piperato, who was also seeing low-turnout.
Outside that polling place -- -- a lone Democratic committeeman stumped for Matt Cartwright, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Tim Holden to represent the redrawn 17th district.
Holden himself had been in the city earlier in the day, making his second visit to in Centre Square. But his appearance -- around 2:30 p.m. -- missed the lunchtime rush. He was planning to hit all six counties in the new district.
, an attorney from Lackawanna County, had been in Easton on Saturday, when he was endorsed by former Congressman Joe Sestak.
Tuesday was the first day poll workers could ask for identification under the .
At the former Shull School on the South Side, poll workers said they had some objections to before they voted.
"They complained, but they still voted," one worker said.
Did you vote? If not, let us know in the comments section why you chose to stay home.
Poll workers there said they are not looking forward to the general election, when photo IDs become mandatory. There are a lot (if not a majority) of voters in the 5th Ward that are elderly seniors, and they foresee this being a potential problem in November. Especially since they pretty much know everyone by sight and by name. Very low turnout...Four poll workers, me, and no other voters in sight...Yes, it's a tiny polling district, perhaps the smallest in Easton, but...
But a larger issue is the absurdly anachronistic system of voting we have. Every policy decision of late has been to depress the vote--knowing that this will reduce the number of elderly and poor who vote and thus the number of Democrats who vote. Just look at the recent discussion here about the voter ID requirement. Writers often said it was no problem for THEM to show and ID so it must be ok for others since it will stop fraud. But clearly it will eliminate more legitimate votes than it will stop fraudulent ones so there is a net loss of democracy. Voters are frustrated with the process and drop out. This unfortunately allows a smaller circle of people to pull the stings of government. And this small circle of people must be smiling when they think about November.
The poll workers did nothing wrong by allowing those without ID to vote yesterday. BTW, poll workers are volunteers and not paid anything (to my knowledge). Perhaps you would consider thanking them for their time, instead of demanding some be banned?