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Decision day arrives for Dems
Staff writer
The battle between Democratic presidential contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for Pennsylvania ballots comes to fruition today as the long campaign for hearts and minds winds down in the voting booth.
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Polls are open statewide from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Larry Spahr, Washington County elections director, is predicting a turnout of 40 to 43 percent of registered voters. In 2007, turnout in the primary and general election hovered around 30 percent.
"We got everybody registered that we could register," Spahr said last week. "We had a few stragglers that came in from other counties."
Greene County elections director Frances Pratt declined to predict her county's turnout, saying only that she expected it to be high. In the 2004 presidential primary, Greene County's turnout was 28 percent. There were 153 absentee ballots cast in the 2004 primary, compared with this year's 450 as of Monday.
Pratt suggested those who want to avoid waiting in long lines at the polls vote between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
In the 12th Congressional District, which includes all of Greene and part of Washington County, Democratic incumbent John Murtha is unopposed. William Russell, whose petitions were rejected by a judge because they did not contain enough valid signatures, is attempting a write-in campaign across the nine-county district.
Democrats in the 18th Congressional District, which includes part of Washington County, will be choosing a candidate to face incumbent U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, an Upper St. Clair Republican, in the fall. Democratic candidates are Beth Hafer of Mt. Lebanon, Steve O'Donnell of Monroeville and Brien Wall of Upper. St. Clair.
In the 49th Legislative District, which runs from West Brownsville to West Alexander, incumbent Democrat Peter Daley faces opposition from within his own party from Barbara Reis of North Charleroi and Randy Barli of Coal Center.
Washington and Greene County Republicans also will be choosing members of their party's state committee.
In case someone whose name isn't listed as a registered voter shows up at the polls, provisional ballots are being sent to each of Washington County's 185 precincts.
"There are 40 Democratic provisional ballots in each precinct and 30 Republicans, which is almost exactly what we did in the November '04 election, but in the precincts where the college kids vote heavily, we put 100-plus ballots in those precincts," Spahr said.
In 2004, Spahr said there were about 800 absentee ballots cast. "This year, we did a little better than 2,000," Spahr said.
Lacking the contests that are a draw on the Democratic ballot, Republicans probably won't turn out in the same numbers as their counterparts.
Even if Spahr's predictions for today's turnout at the polls come true, the numbers will fall short of the 69 percent turnout in November 2004, when Dem-ocrat John Kerry squared off against incumbent President George W. Bush. Kerry ended up winning Washington County by 552 votes.
Fast-forwarding four years, former President Bill Clinton kicked off the campaign season in Pennsylvania March 11 with a speech at Washington & Jefferson College, and Southwestern Pennsylvanians have since seen many appearances by Hillary Clinton, Obama and their surrogates.
Meanwhile, Washington County elections office was fielding calls Monday from residents who wanted to know if they could register to vote.
Eight states allow voters to register up to and including the day of an election, but Pennsylvania isn't one of them. In Pennsylvania, the voter registration deadline was March 24.
Spahr also said he got into a discussion with a caller who thought the state capital was still Philadelphia, which hasn't been the case since 1799.
Spahr reminded voters that Pennsylvania, by law, has a closed primary, meaning only voters registered as Democrat or Republican will select their respective party's nominees. Independents and minor-party members cannot vote in the primary.
First-time voters and voters who have changed address since last voting should bring a form of identification to the polls today. Approved forms of photo identification include a Pennsylvania driver's license or PennDOT non-driver identification card; U.S. passport; identification cards issued by any commonwealth or U.S. government agency; U.S. armed forces identification; or student or employee identification.
If a voter does not have a photo ID, he or she can present a voter identification card, firearm permit, current utility bill, current bank statement, current paycheck or current government check.
In Washington County, voters in four precincts will be going to a different polling place. Bentleyville's first and second precincts have switched from the volunteer fire department to the borough building next door; Hanover's first precinct has been switched from Florence Presbyterian Church to the township building; and East Finley's second precinct will have the recently renovated administration building on Finley Drive as a polling place, rather than the municipal building.
Among Greene County's 44 precincts, there are only two changes. Gilmore Township residents will be voting in the municipal building instead of Jollytown Community Center, and in Carmichaels, voters will go to the new borough building instead of the old borough building.
