Some would-be voters fail to get on state rolls

A flurry of new voter registrations and election measures this season has overwhelmed Philadelphia voter registration offices, disenfranchising many would-be voters by preventing them from receiving their registration cards in time or even getting on the rolls.

An increase of 100,000 newly registered voters in the city since the primaries -- the highest number of registered voters in Philadelphia in 21 years -- and 4,500 on campus alone had forced registration offices to work overtime to complete the election rolls.

"We brought in 17 employees from another department. We've been working seven days a week since the middle of July, until even 10:30 at night," said Bob Lee, the voter registration administrator for the City Commissioners Office.

Lee said that everything the office received was either processed as eligible or rejected, if the forms had no signature, date of birth or valid address. He did concede that processing errors could occur, but said that those who were not registered probably did not turn the forms in.

Lee added that some people did not receive cards due to "addressing issues for mass-mailing."

Nevertheless, many students have felt angry as they waited in vain for their registration cards, or found out, to their detriment, that they are not even on the rolls.

College sophomore Stefan Byrd-Krueger says he has tried to register twice and failed both times.

"When I called the registration board, they told me that I wasn't in the system, again. They said that this was a common problem. Apparently, it's happening to a lot of students, especially people signing up with third parties that are not with the state," he said.

Byrd-Krueger first registered early last year through a dorm canvassing effort by student political groups, and again through one of the many voting activist groups that covered Locust Walk throughout this semester.

Others found similar problems signing up on Locust Walk.

"I filled out a registration card and gave it to the guy there," Wharton sophomore Dan Berstein said. "Somebody botched it, because I wasn't on the rolls. I'm sure the registration board got it, but they've had a lot of problems."

Some people, like College sophomore Lauren Newman, also signed up on Locust Walk and did not receive a card, but were actually on the list of registered voters. Newman was not aware of the fact until she called the voter registration office for clarification.

Most of the groups on Locust Walk have been extremely active, including the Penn College Democrats, which organizers said registered close to 1,500 students this semester. Their vice president, Jessica Smyth, denied mistakes on the group's part, saying that "we've personally turned in everything we've received, a couple times throughout the semester."

Those who have slipped through the cracks may still be allowed to vote using provisional ballots, a new measure introduced by the Help America Vote Act of 2002. This will be the first major election in which the provisional ballot is used.

According to HAVA, voters who believe they are registered and eligible but have forgotten proper identification or are not on the rolls may file a provisional ballot, provided that they sign an affidavit stating that they are eligible to vote.

Even so, many are disillusioned, even by this concession to human error.

"I was told by the registration office that I can't file a provisional ballot for some reason. That's just stupid. I'm not voting," Berstein said.

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