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ALL YEAR, EVERY YEAR
Spring
Winter
Summer
Autumn
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HOW MANY ELECTIONS ARE THERE?
• One every four years?
• One every two years?
• One every year?
• Two every year?
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HOW MANY ELECTIONS ARE THERE?
• One every four years
• One every two years
• One every year
• Two every year
Primary election
General election
plus there are occasionally Special elections
in some districts
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WHY SHOULD I VOTE?
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HOW DOES ONE BECOME A VOTER?
 Meet requirements (citizenship, age, residency)
 Register with the County Elections Division on time
 Choose to be a member of a party if you want to vote in that
party’s primary
 Check your registration in a couple of weeks & learn where your
polling place is located
 Obtain necessary identification to show on Election Day
 Learn which candidates are closest to my positions on the issues
 Show up at your polling place during voting hours with any
necessary identification & vote
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WHY IS MY BALLOT DIFFERENT THAN YOURS?
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Every state has their own two US Senators
Pennsylvania has 18 US Congressional districts
Pennsylvania has 50 districts for State Senate
Pennsylvania has 203 districts for State House
Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas has 60 districts
Allegheny County Council has 13 districts
Pittsburgh City Council has 9 districts
The City of Pittsburgh has 32 wards
Each ward is divided into districts (precincts) which
have a polling place
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2010 CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS
Jason
Altmire
Tim
Murphy
Mark
Critz
Mike
Doyle
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/PA
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2012 CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS
Mike
Kelly
Keith
Rothfus
Mike
Doyle
Tim
Murphy
Bill
Shuster
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/PA
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ALLEGHENY COUNTY COUNCIL DISTRICTS
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ALLEGHENY COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICTS
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PITTSBURGH CITY COUNCIL DISTRICTS
1
7
9
8
6
2
3
5
4
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PITTSBURGH PUBLIC SCHOOLS DISTRICTS
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PITTSBURGH PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS 2013
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PITTSBURGH WARDS
26
10
27
28
20
11
9
21
24
25
6
22 23
2
28
3
20
19
13
7
4
14
17
18
30
32
8
5
1
12
16
15
29
31
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WHY DO I NEED ELECTION PROTECTION?
Elected officials have power—the power to support public
projects, or to not support them; the power to raise or
lower taxes; the power to make laws
People and corporations want officials who agree with
them to be elected. They are willing to spend money to
get their favored candidates elected.
Some people and corporations don’t want people who
disagree with them to vote. They may try to prevent
those people from voting.
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FEDERAL ELECTION MILESTONES
 1788: U.S. Constitution — Voting rights are up to the
states. The states allow white, male, land-owning 21year olds to vote
 1810 — Religious prerequisite for voting is eliminated
 1850 — Property ownership and tax requirements
eliminated
 1855/1857 — Connecticut and Massachusetts adopt
literacy tests for voting to deny the voting franchise to
Irish Catholic immigrants
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FEDERAL ELECTION MILESTONES
 1869: 15th Amendment — Gives suffrage (voting right)
to former slaves and to all adult males regardless of
race
 1889/1890 — Florida adopts a poll tax. Mississippi
adopts a literacy test; there are ways around the test
for illiterate whites.
 1920: 19th Amendment —
women’s suffrage
 1924: Indian Citizenship Act —
suffrage for Native Americans
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FEDERAL ELECTION MILESTONES
 1957: Civil Rights Act — sets up the Civil Rights
Commission to investigate voter discrimination
 1961: 23rd Amendment — allows citizens of
Washington, DC to vote in federal elections
 1964: 24th Amendment bans the poll tax in federal
elections
 1965: Voting Rights Act — protects the rights of
minority voters; eliminates literacy tests; requires
states with history of discrimination to preclear
changes to voting practices with the Dept of Justice
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FEDERAL ELECTION MILESTONES
 1971: 26th Amendment — changes the minimum age for
voting to 18 (who were drafted to fight in the Vietnam War)
 1986: Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act
 1995: National Voter Registration (“Motor Voter”) Act —
requires states to let citizens register to vote when they obtain
other services from government agencies like Motor Vehicles
and Welfare departments
 2002: Help America Vote Act — replaced punchcard and lever
voting machines; established minimum election
administration standards; provides for provisional ballots
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HOW CAN OTHERS PREVENT ME FROM VOTING?
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Deceptive practices
Intimidation
Challenges
Purging voter rolls
Election Fraud
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DECEPTIVE PRACTICES TO TRICK VOTERS
 Saying that because of long lines, seniors will be
allowed to vote on Wednesday
 Saying that you can vote by phone.
 Saying that car registration and insurance will be
checked at the polls
 Saying that you’ll be arrested at the polls if you’re
delinquent on alimony or child support
 Examining voters’ IDs outside the polling place
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INTIMIDATION
 Reminding selected voters that
election fraud is a felony
 Posting guards or police in front
of the polling place building
 Making threats
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CHALLENGES
 The challenger tells election officials that a voter:
isn’t who s/he claims to be
doesn’t live in the district
has committed a violation of the election code
 The challenged voter must respond with a sworn
statement, and may have to provide a witness that
can swear the voter is qualified to vote here
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PURGING VOTER ROLLS
 Election officials remove voters from the voter rolls
because:
their names are similar to the names of aliens,
felons, or deceased persons
they don’t respond to an official mailing which
checks if voters’ addresses have changed
 This hasn’t been a problem in Allegheny County
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ELECTION FRAUD
 Voter Fraud—Unqualified person voting, or
impersonating a qualified voter
Voting in person
Absentee voting
 Insider Fraud—Corrupt officials
 Voting Machine Fraud
 Tally System Fraud
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VOTER FRAUD
Voter impersonation is rare. You have to
show your face in a polling place. It
isn’t worth committing a felony just to
cast one extra vote.
Casting absentee ballots for persons who
are unlikely to vote (like dead people)
is safer and more common.
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VOTER ID LAWS
Makes it difficult to vote for:
• Minorities
• Elderly
• Handicapped
• Students
• Poor
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INSIDER FRAUD
 Officials using their position of power to commit fraud
 Recently, 8 officials in Kentucky committed a simple
fraud using the same voting machines that we use
here in Allegheny County. They convinced voters that
they were done casting their votes before they really
were. Then the officials changed the voters’ choices
and finished casting the votes.
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VOTING MACHINE FRAUD—CLEAR BALLOT BOX
Do you understand how this ballot box works? See your vote?
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WHO ARE YOU GOING TO TRUST? THE
COMPUTER’S MEMORY OR YOUR LYING EYES?
Do you see where your vote is stored now? Can you read it?
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VOTING MACHINE FRAUD—PAPERLESS
 You can’t see how a paperless voting machine works.
It isn’t transparent.
 You don’t know what it’s really doing.
 You can’t go back and re-examine a voter’s vote. The
button pushes are gone. Only the machine’s
interpretation of what the voter wanted remains.
 You can’t perform a meaningful recount or audit.
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TALLY SYSTEM FRAUD
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TALLY SYSTEM FRAUD
 Each county has one of these central systems to tally
all the votes from all the voting machines
 Changing the counts of votes in this system would
have the greatest impact on the vote totals
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HOW DO WE PROTECT THE ELECTION?
 Fight deception by giving voters correct information
 Fight intimidation by having poll monitors outside
polling places
 Fight challenges by telling voters their rights, telling
election officials the rules, and having lawyers to help
with difficult problems
 Fight voter roll purges with lawyers and by registering
lots of new voters
 Fight to make election laws better
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CORRECT INFORMATION
 Ex-felons can vote in Pennsylvania
 You cannot be arrested at the
polling place for outstanding
parking tickets or being delinquent
on alimony or child support
 You can check your registration
status online (VotesPA.com)
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POLL MONITORS
Answer basic questions for voters
Make sure voters know their rights
Refer voters to 866-OUR-VOTE hotline
Gather information about polling place
and voter problems
 Encourage voters not to leave without
voting
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VOTERS’ RIGHTS
 You have the right to vote if:
 You’re 18 years old by election day
 You’re a citizen of the USA
 You’re a Pennsylvania resident for 30 days
 You registered at least 30 days before your first election
 You have the right to vote without:
 Threat of force, violence, restraint, or injury
 Intimidation or coercion
 You have the right to keep your vote secret
 Voters with disabilities or who are unable to read have the
right to receive assistance in voting
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VOTER ROLLS PURGES
 It is probably too late to resolve an inappropriate
purge of a voter on Election Day
 Check VotesPA.com to be sure that you are registered
 If you registered, but on Election Day you are told that
you are not registered, you have the right to cast a
Provisional Ballot
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PROVISIONAL BALLOT
 If you registered, but on Election Day you are told that
you are not registered, you have the right to cast a
Provisional Ballot
 If you don’t have the proper ID with you on Election
Day, you can cast a Provisional Ballot
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COMPLAINTS ABOUT VOTING PROBLEMS
https://www.pavoterservices.state.pa.us/Pages/ReportElectionComplaints.aspx
Name, address, county, date of birth
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FEDERAL COMPLAINTS
If your complaint involves voting system standards, accessibility issues for
individuals with disabilities, provisional voting, voter information requirements
or the SURE system, you must complete a Title III HAVA Complaint Form
http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/gateway/
PTARGS_0_160329_665491_0_0_18/statement_of_complaint_form.pdf
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WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM THE 2012 ELECTION?
1. Data helps win elections, but it’s not everything
2. Voters of color were invisible, to their advantage
3. The need for early voting was evident
4. Right wing poll watchers played themselves
5. Election Protection works
6. Grassroots organizers can turn out voters on shoestring budgets—but that’s not a
good thing
7. People of color were self-motivated to vote, not just motivated by Obama
8. A lot of people didn’t vote, because they couldn’t, because of felonies
9. Hundreds of thousands of votes still haven’t been counted
10. Gerrymandering and redistricting caused confusion
Brentin Mock, http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/11/lessons_learned.html
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ELECTION PROCEDURES NEEDING PROTECTION
 Third Party Voter Registration
 Early Voting
 Same Day Registration
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ELECTION PROCEDURES NEEDING ELIMINATION
 Excessive Purging of Voter Rolls
 Excessive Voter ID
 Election Day Challenges of Voter Eligibility
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BAD IDEAS THAT MIGHT LOOK ATTRACTIVE
 Vote by Mail
 Internet Voting
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ELECTION LAWS NEEDING CHANGE
 Voter ID—All qualified voters should be able to easily and
quickly obtain suitable ID for free
 People challenging a voter’s qualification to vote should
have to make a sworn statement
 The method of voting should allow meaningful recounts
and audits. Machines with no paper trail should be illegal.
 Give voters the day off from work
 Redraw districts in an impartial manner
 Take the money out of campaigns; also, no anonymous,
large donations
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HOW TO CHANGE LAWS
 Join a group that shares your goal; don’t fight alone
Black and White Reunion
Black Political Empowerment Project (B-PEP)
A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI)
The League of Women Voters
Common Cause
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
VoteAllegheny
 Write to the newspaper
 Write to your public officials
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NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
5 01 ( c ) ( 3 )
5 01 ( c ) ( 4 )
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May not support or oppose
candidates
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Promotion of social welfare (civic
betterment, common good)
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Can conduct voter registration &
GOTV
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May lobby officials
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May not campaign
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Can sponsor a Candidate Forum
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Distribute non-partisan voter guide
Can’t take tax-deductible donations
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Advocate issues & ballot
measures
NAACP
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Don’t have to disclose donors
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Educate voters on voting process
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Dark Money (e.g., GPS Crossroads)
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FIND YOUR CONGRESSMEN AND WOMEN
They can make laws controlling Federal elections.
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt
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FIND YOUR STATE LEGISLATORS
THEY CAN CHANGE THE ELECTION LAWS IN PA
www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/find.cfm
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FIND YOUR COUNTY COUNCIL MEMBER
THEY CAN REPLACE THE VOTING MACHINES
www.alleghenycounty.us/council/dist/coundis.aspx
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THREE MEMBER COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS
 Two At-Large Council Members represent the whole county
 They are also on the County Board of Elections, as is the County
Executive
www.alleghenycounty.us/council/members.aspx
Rich Fitzgerald
County Executive
John DeFazio
Council At-Large
Heather S. Heidelbaugh
Council At-Large
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HOW TO REGISTER VOTERS
 Obtain registration forms from your group or from the
Division of Elections
 Have the prospective voter fill out a registration form
 Return the completed registrations to your group or
directly to the County Elections Division
 It is a crime to accept someone’s registration form
and not turn it in
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VOTER REGISTRATION APPLICATION FORM
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VOTER REGISTRATION APPLICATION FORM
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