Politics & Government

Bad Weather Dampens Voter Turn Out

Some supporters attribute the bad weather and the simple fact that it's a primary election saw few people come out and vote.

The voter turned out was low on the rainy and cloudy Tuesday according to some candidates and their supporters because of the bad weather and because most voters typically do not come out to vote during a primary election.

Pat Laws, a volunteer for the Haverford Township Democratic Party, said the low voter turned out was due to bad weather and something else.

“The low voter turn out prediction has come to pass. … More so in a primary election than a regular election,” she said, who had been at the since 4 p.m. handling pamphlets about the Democratic candidates. Other supporters have echoed Laws.

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But voting was interrupted for about 20 minutes when one of the students accidently hit a fire alarm at the high school, said Dave Donnelly, chief engineer at the Brookline Fire Co. 

Although Kathleen Monaghan, a supporter for Republican incumbent 5th Ward Commissioner Jim McGarrity, seemed hopeful that more people would come out during the dinner hour.

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And that seemed to be the case for Michael H. Levin, Ph.D., who came out to vote at the high school. He said that there was no political issue that helps him choose a candidate, but said he only looks for two things in a candidate: "Judgment and temperament."

Monaghan was also handing out pamphlets at the high school, one of many voting places where supporters with pamphlets and candidates could be found greeting voters.

Havertown resident and Philadelphia attorney Philip Lozano, who is running against incumbent Robert Burke for the title of Magisterial District Judge 32-1-25, said that despite the poor weather, some voters were willing to come out in the rain because they are duty bound.

“As I expected, people who have come out, and it’s nice to see, they came out to see democracy at work,” he said of the primary election, as he stood in front of the Grimes Center since 7 a.m.

“People come out are interested in seeing top quality politics and candidates,” he added.

Vice President of the Haverford Township School Board Maxine Murdoch, who is up for reelection, said that the voter turn out at the Grimes Center was “OK, but I wish more would show.”

Third Ward commissioner candidate Jeff Miller, who is running unopposed on the Democratic ticket, was also at the Grimes Center since early Tuesday morning.

At the Manoa Fire Department, Rachel McGonigle, a Lozano supporter, said it was great that she, Joseph Piattelli, a supporter for 1st Ward Commissioner Republican Jon Tancredi who is running against incumbent Steve D’Emilio, and Dave Fowler, a firefighter at the Bon Air Fire Co. and a supporter of Burke, could all get along well and joke with each other despite being from different political spectrums.

However, McGonigle, who is seven months pregnant, said she promised D’Emilio to name her child “Steve” if she has a boy.


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