As a government employee and Election Day worker, I know firsthand that our elections are safe and secure. Every voter’s voice will be counted and every voice matters in order to uphold our democracy.
Prior to working for Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, I worked for Ceisler Media and my last client was Election Security & Software (ES&S) — the company that sold the city our voting machines. I traveled the city with ES&S to demonstrate the safe and secure nature of these machines, not to mention that they are user-friendly, accessible for all voters of all abilities, and using electronic tabulation rather than paper.
Some naysayers worried that electronic machines would be easy to hack, but ask any election worker tasked with setting them up, this is not the case. These workers will tell you of unique and secure codes needed to open and close the machines. They’ll tell you of the USB, not cloud-based software, that records our votes (with accompanying paper trail) and how votes are transported via police to our election headquarters.
Our elections are safe and our votes matter. A lot.
Election workers will also tell you that police officers and monitors from the District Attorney’s office constantly check in throughout Election Day to ensure everything is up to board and our machines, and workers, are operating without funny business.
Since working at City Council, I have toured the election operations headed up by our City Commissioners, and helped roll out new initiatives such as vote-by-mail, early voting via satellite locations, and expanding languages on our ballots. Our elections are safe and constantly modernizing.
Recently, it was reported that Russian agents were spreading misinformation in Bucks County with a falsified video of election workers tearing up ballots. Let me first say that this is false, it is misinformation, it is treasonous, and it is impossible for our dutifully sworn workers to discard votes.
But there is a bigger evil at play.
Foreign agents are working to dissuade Philadelphia, and the counties, from voting. If our votes didn’t matter, they wouldn’t spend so much effort to keep us from participating. If it were possible to discard votes or manipulate election workers, they would do that. But our elections are safe and our votes matter. A lot.
Every year, not just in presidential elections, I see firsthand how much work goes into preserving and upholding every single vote.
In addition to working for City Council, I am a committee person in Northwest Philadelphia. I work to remind my neighborhood of every upcoming election and help run the operations of local polling locations. Every year, not just in presidential elections, I see firsthand how much work goes into preserving and upholding every single vote. There is coordination from the hyper local level of my division to City Commissions and the Department of State with campaigns of both major parties (also at the local and national level) working to supply us with information and resources to vote.
In conclusion, your vote is safe and secure. But it’s also incredibly important. Every level of government is on the ballot, so issues from who will serve as commander-in-chief to who will fix the potholes on your street, are on the ballot.
Vote early at a satellite location, vote by mail, or vote in person on November 5. And as soon as you’re done, mark your 2025 calendar, because elections happen every year.
Max Weisman is the Communications Director for Councilmember Isaiah Thomas and a Democratic committee person in East Falls.
The Citizen welcomes guest commentary from community members who represent that it is their own work and their own opinion based on true facts that they know firsthand.
Every Voice, Every Vote funds Philadelphia media and community organizations to expand access to civic news and information. The coalition is led by The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Lead support for Every Voice, Every Vote in 2024 and 2025 is provided by the William Penn Foundation with additional funding from The Lenfest Institute for Journalism, Comcast NBC Universal, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Henry L. Kimelman Family Foundation, Judy and Peter Leone, Arctos Foundation, Wyncote Foundation, 25th Century Foundation, and Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation.
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