Middling Turnouts on Election Tuesday

With thermostats approaching 70 degrees throughout the region, temperatures have been unexpectedly high on Election Tuesday.

The turnouts though? Not so much.

"We've had 130 people so far, so we're pretty light. We usually have had 200 or 240 at this point," said Sherry Horowitz, the vice chair of the Republican Committee of Lower Merion and Narberth, from her seat in the lobby of Green Hill Apartments in Merion. The Ward 7 polling place had, according to Judge of Elections Henrietta Klein, 153 voters by quarter of 12.

"People think it's only a local election I guess, so they're not coming out," shrugged Horowitz.

Beth Ladenheim, who is campaigning as a Republican for the Ward 7 seat on the Lower Merion Township Board of Commissioners against incumbent president Liz Rogan, painted a rosier picture.

"It has been steady," said Ladenheim, who was joined at the polls by her mother and father.

In Wynnewood's Penn Wynne section, about 220 people had voted in Lower Merion’s Ward 14-3 precinct, at the Penn Wynne Fire Co. on Manoa Road, said Dana Axelrod, a Democratic committee person.

“How does that compare? We’re significantly above what we did the entire day in May [for the primary],” Axelrod said. “I don’t know how it compares to four years ago yet—I don’t have those numbers right here.”

Axelrod was sharing her table with 16-year-old Harriton High School junior Adam Goldstein, working the polls for the second time on Tuesday. Harriton, with its own voting station, had the day off for students.

At St. Christopher's Church in Gladwyne, a Ward 1 precinct, the turnout has been a little stronger. The polling place had a turnout of 180 by 1 p.m. which, considered against the Ward's expected turnout, was viewed as positive by Rosemarie Leddy, a Republican volunteer.

"This is a very active Ward," explained Leddy, who wore an A.J Kait sticker on her lapel as she greeted voters outside of the church. Nancy Wise, a Democratic volunteer who handed out brochures from a table in the lobby concurred.

At the Narberth Borough Hall, the turnout was mixed: the Ward 2 polling station recorded 259 votes as of 1 p.m.—which Judge of Elections Wendy Flegal reckoned was par for the course—while the Ward 3 station, helmed by Eli Holtman, had a turnout of only 120.

"It's an off-year, but we've had much more voters than in the Spring primaries," said Flegal.

There have been technical problems at the polling place, but of an unusual sort.

"There was a flood in the parking lot, and we lost our water supply here," said Flegal, who added that election officials have needed to go to the library across the street to use the restroom.

At Bala Cynwyd Middle School, site of a pair of Ward 13 precincts, 287 ballots had been cast by 2 p.m.

"We had a steady flow in the morning, but have been slow for the last hour," said Judge of Elections Harold Goldner. Goldner added that, while the casting of actual ballots has gone off without incident, he received several complaints from a local Democratic official.

"There are coffee cups in the lobby that say 'Barson' on them," explained Goldner, referring to Ward 13 Republican Board of Commissioners candidate Louis Barson. Goldner emphasized that, in his view, coffee cups are unlikely to sway votes.

Ward 13 Democratic candidate Brian McGuire apparently hoped that handshakes would. The incumbent greeted voters outside of the school. He said he was of two minds about the beautiful weather.

"Well, there are a pair of theories about it," McGuire said. "The first is that it will make people more likely to come out. The second is that the weather may actually be too nice."

If such a thing is possible, Tuesday was guilty as charged.