Young Philly Politics contributors are no strangers to hyperbole and exaggeration, but we got nothing on our offline counterparts at Old Philly Politics AKA The Philadelphia Public Record. I was particularly struck by this front page puff piece about City Commissioner Marge Tartaglione.

As someone who has actually worked full-time in a number of elections in Philadelphia, I can tell you that the City Commissioners have a big job on their hands. And, in many ways, they handle it well. However…I can not let some of the gems from the Public Record article (which strangely had no byline) slip by without comment:

The ease with which voters will find their polling places, sample ballots at those polling sites, and a staff of election workers ready to help them continues to underline the excellent management of the election process under the chairmanship of Margaret Tartaglione and the support she has gotten from fellow commissioners Edgar Howard and Joseph Duda.

Ok, did the writer of this article ever vote in Philadelphia?

Certainly at MoveOn and Philly Against Santorum, where volunteers worked to target new and infrequent voters, it was my experience that finding polling places is a major issue. I won’t comment on the efficacy of election workers, but I have seen some of the training materials used to prep poll workers (which are at best, underwhelming) and I think there is room for improvement there too.

The Public Record goes on to report that:

Cognizant of the changing population, Tartaglione has long ago initiated the use of interpreters and provided training curriculums and classes for them.

Um, does anyone remember when the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the City for violating the rights of Spanish speaking Philadelphia voters? And, don’t even get me started on how messed up ADA compliance still is when it comes to voting...

Despite my criticisms, I can respect Tartaglione and her fellow Commissoners for what they have accomplished. However, it’s simply not enough.

When local and state party leaders express serious concern about low turnout in the coming election (as is reported here), why don’t they ever mention the role that the City Commissioner’s office could play to boost it? For example:

* The Commissioners could send a postcard in the mail or an email reminding voters about Election Day. It’s been done before, in 2004 and to some extent in 2006, but not in Primaries and not in the 05 General. That’s one way to drive up turnout.

* Another idea: why don’t we take advantage of Wireless Philly and create a secure, online voter database so that Philadelphians could go to any polling location in the city rather than just the one in their ward and division? People live busy lives, and using technology to make tasks like voting simpler is a no-brainer.

* Same-day voter registration is another concept that has helped boost voter turnout in other states. This will require a change in state law, but how can we ever expect a change in state law to occur if election officials in Philadelphia and other large counties don’t get more aggressive and ask for one?

* Vote by mail, public advertising, partnering with utilities to print election info on bills (do you know how easy it would be to print your polling place location on your gas or water bill?), an updated website, and many other ideas are all available to the Commissioners to use to boost turnout.

The cynic in me thinks that the reason the City Commissioners here don’t act more aggressively to really increase voter turnout is inner party politics. The reality is if any true reform was enacted to make voting easier, it would be harder for the party to control primary elections.

Whether that is the case or not, the City Commissioner’s office needs to get a whole lot better and fast.

I know some folks in reform/progressive circles who want to run progressives for a City Commissioner spot, and maybe that is a good short-term fix, but frankly I think the best solution is to get rid of the elected Commissioners’ office altogether. Electing people to oversee city elections is really weird. Allegheny and Montgomery County, the 2nd and 3rd largest counties in the state respectively, don’t do this.

In the meantime, we don’t really have any choice in the coming election on Commissioners, and there are a lot of issues that demand our attention, but changing how some things are done at the City Commissioners’ office has to become a priority for progressives who want to get more Philadelphians voting and who want to elect progressive challengers.