Only the rich can see election results in Philadelphia. Or at least, that’s what City Commissioner Margaret Tartaglione’s office told Young Philly Politics.
The Philadelphia County Voter Registration Office clearly lists a link to 2007 Election Results, but then prompts users for a password to continue. YPP called Commissioner Tartaglione’s office, but they were told that the Commissioners sell the passwords to the media.
This is ridiculous and one of the worst examples of closed government I’ve seen in a while. This is the public’s data and it deserves to be published freely and openly. We’ll call all three Commissioners offices tomorrow for public comment.
Stanley, here's two more calls to make
After you are done calling the commissioners’ offices, I recommend that you call Michael Nutter and The Committee of Seventy.
-blackrobe
and two more
While you’re at it, consider giving the Department of State and Attorney General a call.
People are just noticing this?
In the past few elections where we have live-blogged results election night here at KP, I have tried to direct link the Philadelphia city election bureau website, but found it was password accessible only. I know the Cmte of Seventy and Hallwatch both post election results by ward and precinct and have for years. I guess they were also willing to pay whatever the fee was for access to the election info. I never heard or read a peep out of either of those groups about lack of full public access to city election results.
I never read an editorial by Zach Stahlberg, the current Cmte of Seventy head, about it in the Daily News either. Nor was there ever any mention by the Phila Inq editorial board. Michael Nutter sat on city council for years, in addition to being a ward leader, and I never heard or read about any legislation from him to force the election board to give free access to the data.
pd
Post new comment