10/12/04 Hallwatch sues City Commissioners (Ed Goppelt)

$\\Merc\hallwatch\hallwatch3.PNG$

Hallwatch sues City Commissioners
By Ed Goppelt Tuesday, 10/12/04 (1097638632934)

Public information about political districts shouldn’t be kept under lock and key by the Philadelphia City Commissioners, the elected officials responsible for running elections. The Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia (PILCOP) and Hallwatch have taken steps to pry open up the Commissioners’ information vault so that all can benefit.

Today I sued the Commissioners for public records so that no voter is directed to the wrong polling place in the upcoming Presidential election. PILCOP Chief Legal Counsel Michael Churchill drafted the suit and will ask the Court tomorrow for an emergency hearing on this issue.

For the past 3 years, Hallwatch has offered a “polling place locator,” a web based service that allows Philadelphians to find their polling place quickly and easily.

But in order to determine someone’s polling place, you must know what electoral division they live in. Recently I asked the Commissioners for current information on Philadelphia’s 1681 divisions so I could update the service.

They refused.

One after another all 3 City Commissioners--Margaret Tartaglione (D), --Joseph Duda (R) and -- Edgar Howard (D)-- denied my request at their weekly public meeting (Wednesdays, 11 am, Room 130 City Hall). The Commissioners did not explain why they oppose using the Internet to allow people to look up their polling place.

Many people rely on Hallwatch for their polling place information. Last week users from the PA Senate, City Council and other groups ran over 400 such queries.

Testing I have done suggests that the Hallwatch service probably won’t steer voters wrong, but there is no way to know for sure without current data on where the divisions fall, information only the Commissioners can provide.

This is unacceptable. No voter should end up at the wrong polling place because the City Commissioners refuse to release public records. Our tax dollars paid for these records. We should benefit from them, too.