I worked the Pennsylvania primary election this week providing election and voter protection services in the Philadelphia suburbs. I was one of a small group of attorneys supporting the County Democratic Party overseeing a circuit of voting precincts during Tuesday's primary. It was a fun and rewarding sixteen-hour day.
Why do I entitle this diary "hope"? Because in the vast majority of the dozen precincts I visited as an voter protection attorney, the 20% of the voter pool that showed up was enthusiastic and diverse. I met a wide range of ages and races working the polls, greeting voters, and voting. Poll workers ranged from eighteen to eighty. The minority and majority inspectors got along well, with many precinct workers as Facebook friends across party lines. One of the Republican poll workers offered me food - twice. Another Republican poll workers invited me to their after-party (I had to go to the Democratic after-party, of course).
Tip O'Neill said that all politics is local. If we could only make the people in Washington can understand that, then maybe the destructive Republican nonsense can at least fade a bit? Or am I too optimistic that we actually can get past this "party of no" business?
And, by the way, other than one Judge of Elections trying to get me to not watch the count at the end of the day (which we took care of as soon as she understood I wasn't leaving), things went well. Let's see how things go in November. Maybe the County will put me on the same circuit?