Thursday, November 15, 2012
There’s much more opportunity for voter fraud with absentee ballots than at the polls.
There are four seasons in the coal region, according to the terrific web site CoalRegion.com: Almost winter, winter, still winter and construction. That observation came to mind during this past election season, which seemed to have the longevity of a coal region winter. At the risk of prolonging a season that many want to forget, I’d like to revisit one issue that is sure to come up again in future elections: Voter ID. There were complaints at some polls in Lehigh and Northampton counties that voters were being asked for identification even though a Commonwealth Court judge issued an injunction Oct. 2 that said photo identification wasn’t required this election (except for first-time voters.) The judge’s ruling, however, allowed the state…
Friday, November 9, 2012
President of Lehigh Valley Tea Party says organization will still tackle issues despite presidential election outcome.
The presidential election is over and despite the outcome, the president of the Lehigh Valley Tea Party said her organization will "keep on keeping on." For the past two Saturdays, Tea Party members were out rallying the troops in Allentown and Bethlehem to get people out to vote. Barb Walters, the chairwoman of the 800-member Lehigh Valley Tea Party, said she was disappointed by the turnout at the polls, despite criticism and concerns that the country wasn't improving in the past four years under President Barack Obama's tenure. "I was surprised at the numbers. They were down for the country," she said. "It was really shocking, coming from both sides." The Tea Party movement gained national recognition during the 2010 midterms in terms of…
Some voters were turned away Tuesday for not having photo ID even though the voter ID law was put on hold
- ELECTIONS
-
Friday, November 9, 2012
By Melissa Daniels | PA Independent HARRISBURG — The elections are over, but the discussion about voting integrity continues. In the Lehigh Valley, problems Tuesday included: controversial signs at Easton polls, questions that made voters uncomfortable in Nazareth and voters turned away in southside Bethlehem. House Speaker Sam Smith, R-Jefferson, told reporters Wednesday afternoon that he’s heard stories about 90 percent of precincts reporting 90 percent voter turnout. Smith called the numbers “questionable,” but would not call them evidence of fraud. Attempts to verify Smith’s claims were unsuccessful, but the comment alone was enough to anger state Sen. Vince Hughes, D-Philadelphia. Hughes said he was at a number of polling places on …
Tell is which event took a bigger toll on you - Hurricane Sandy or the political campaigns?
- OPINION
-
Friday, November 9, 2012
It's been a rough two weeks in much of the Lehigh Valley as Hurricane Sandy knocked out power to thousands and -- when that power came back on -- TV viewers subjected to relentless election hype and negative campaign ads. So which was worse? Vote in our poll and tell us in the comments section below.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Lehigh Valley voters have a tradition of choosing the presidential candidate who also wins Pennsylvania.
- ELECTIONS
-
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Muhlenberg College professor and pollster Christopher Borick said it this way: “I’m very confident that whoever wins the Valley will win Pennsylvania.” The Lehigh Valley, with its cities, suburbs and rural areas, has become a bellwether for Pennsylvania politics and this proved to be true again Tuesday as President Barack Obama won both Lehigh and Northampton counties: (unofficial tally) Lehigh County Northampton County In 2008, both Northampton and Lehigh counties went for Barack Obama, just like the state. The Lehigh Valley went for Democrats John Kerry in 2004 and Al Gore in 2000, as did Pennsylvania as well. “Pennsylvania hasn’t been a very good predictor of elections,” said Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of …
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
President Obama defeats Republican Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election.
- ELECTIONS
-
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were re-elected Tuesday night, defeating Republican challenger Mitt Romney and his vice presidential running mate, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan. NBC News called the presidential election for Obama around 11:15 EST. The president sent a message on Twitter at 10:14 saying simply, "This happened because of you. Thank you." The Obama campaign won the most expensive presidential race ever, with both parties raising about $2.6 billion. The race was filled with negative campaigning on both sides, from Obama attacking Romney’s business experience with Bain Capital to Romney lambasting Obama’s handling of the economy. The race tightened during the final months of the campaign, with gaffes and surges from …
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Voters in Pennsylvania on Tuesday cast their ballot for Barack Obama, giving the president the state's 20 electoral votes.
- ELECTIONS
-
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Mutliple media outlets are calling President Barack Obama the projected winner of Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes. In the 2008 presidential election, the state voted for Barack Obama, and since the 1990s, has voted for the overall winner of the presidential race 3 out of 5 times. Romney and Obama campaigned aggressively in Pennsylvania. The state has typically been a Democratic stronghold in recent presidential elections. Romney spent part of Election Day in Pittsburgh and visited Bucks County on Sunday, drawing 25,000 supporters. On Monday, former President Bill Clinton was in the Philadelphia suburbs and Romney surrogates, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, swept through eastern Pennsylvania, including a stop at Bethlehem…
A Bethlehem councilman said the judge of elections in Ward Five at St. John's Windish Lutheran Church did not follow proper procedures for voters who aren't on the rolls.
A number of voters in South Bethlehem were forced to cast provisional ballots because of confusion and a failure to adhere to proper protocol on the part of some poll workers, according to on-site observers. City Councilman Michael Recchiuti said that the judge of elections in the Fifth Ward was handing out the provisional ballots to voters who did not appear on the voter rolls instead of placing a call first to the Northampton County Election Bureau, which is the proper procedure. Some voters walked away, Recchiuti said. “We could call 10 times and all we’d get was a busy signal,” said Dick Jones, the Fifth Ward judge, pointing to a cell phone on the table where he worked in the auditorium of the St. John’s Windish Lutheran Church. “We’…
40.610667
-75.370374
St. John's Windish Evangelical Lutheran Church
617 E 4th St, Bethlehem, PA
/articles/voters-reportedly-turned-away-at-southside-poll
868869
/locations/8111615
Advocacy group offers $1,000 reward for voter fraud tips. Critics call it a form of intimidation.
Follow our Lehigh Valley Live Election blog. EASTON - Signs offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to voter fraud convictions have popped up around Easton. At the South Side Senior Center, Mark Willis -- constable for the 10th ward -- thought they were inappropriate. After consulting with the elections attorney on site, Willis yanked it out of the ground. "It's something that might be intimidating or considered intimidating, to dissaude voters from coming in and placing their votes," Willis said. The signs -- which were also spotted at the Easton Area Neighborhood Center -- were made up by a group called Pennsylvania Commercial Action Network. PACAN, which describes itself as a non-profit and non-partisan business advocacy group…
Is Pennsylvania still up for grabs in the presidential election?
- ELECTIONS
-
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
By PA Independent and Patch Staff HARRISBURG — Mitt Romney’s campaign and several national Republican super PACs are throwing money into the Keystone State in the hope of scoring an upset. Meanwhile, the anticipated outcome of the state races suggests that the Republicans will maintain control of the General Assembly, and the Democrats will snag all three row office seats: attorney general, auditor general and state treasurer. Polls will open across Pennsylvania from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Poll workers may ask you to show photo ID but it is not required. Election observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe will monitor polling places on Tuesday in the United States. The group, a United Nations affiliate with …
Amend Wun
9:44 am on Friday, November 16, 2012
@Carl- the free IDs were only offered up a few weeks prior to the election and only as a reaction to the fact that voters would have incurred a fee otherwise. I haven't yet heard that those IDs are still being offered since this legislation was put on hold. And it's still incumbent on those seeking to enact this legislation to prove the need. How would presenting an ID keep dead people, felons … more ›