Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the annual breakfast for political watchdog group the Committee of Seventy on Nov. 23, 2009 inside the Park Hyatt at the Bellevue Stratford. Photo by Christopher Wink

Gov. Ed Rendell walked onto the stage in front of several hundred guests at the Committee of Seventy‘s annual breakfast and made a joke at the expense of the political oversight group’s president, Zach Stalberg.

“Don’t you think Zach was a lot more fun when he at the Daily News?” Rendell asked of Stalberg, who was an editor at the Philadelphia tabloid before departing for a gig at Seventy in 2005.

The featured guest of the affair was Vice President Joe Biden and, like Stalberg before him, Biden seemed all business.

His 30-minutes worth of remarks after being welcomed by a standing ovation of business leaders and Seventy supporters inside the swanky Park Hyatt-Bellevue Stratford, were focused on defending his administration’s heady list of priorities.

“What would you say can wait?” he said rhetorically to critics, listing the economy, health care, two wars, educational standards, and energy policy.

“It’s not that a new energy policy has been tried,” he said. “It’s that it’s been found difficult and left untried.”

He went on to make a case that the stimulus is working to create jobs.

Aside from a five-minute Phillies-themed opening, the only break from dour policy defense and occasionally raising his voice to a near shout got the laughs many seemed waiting to give out.

Of President Obama winning a Nobel Peace Prize, Biden said: “Sometimes I wonder why I didn’t get one too.”

“That’s a joke,” he said.

Zack Stalberg speaks at the annual breakfast for political watchdog group the Committee of Seventy on Nov. 23, 2009 inside the Park Hyatt at the Bellevue Stratford. Photo by Christopher Wink

Every Election Day since November 2004, with an occasional exception, I’ve worked with the Committee of Seventy, a more than century-old political oversight nonprofit in Philadelphia.

I always come away with stories.

As I did in last April’s primary, below, I’ll share some of the best from last Tuesday’s election, a relatively low-profile affair, including just a couple citywide offices and a dozen state and municipal judicial positions.

For the first few elections I worked, I was assigned a portion of the city and trekked to all the polling places there, watching for myriad of common violations, excessive electioneering, improprieties and the rest. The past few general, primary and municipal elections though have seen me, with others experienced in the organization (I spent a year as a policy research and graphic design intern), holed in a Center City office building answering questions and directing the field teams, I started on.

In this capacity I get the chance to watch all the complaints that pour in — from field teams, to polling officials, legislators, their staffs and, yes, citizens, too.

I only worked from 6:30 a.m. until just after 1 p.m., so my experience only accounts for half the day.

Some of the quirkier complaints, as written both in the voice of Seventy phone operators and the voter callers themselves, that came in through the hot line system (215 557-3600):

• From 19th and Ellsworth in South Philly: “[The second machine] is giving off red dye on people’s fingertips, which may be an indication that fingerprints are being taking. These machines are computerized, so I don’t understand why this is happening unless it is set up to do this.”
• From 57th and Haverford in West Philly: The caller is complaining of a power outage at a polling place located at 57th and Haverford.
• From 2521 N. 23rd St in North Phily: “Workers there were talking entirely too loud, and I couldn’t concentrate on my voting. This is a continuous problem I have had with this group.”
• From E. Cheltenham Ave & Charles St at the Wissinoming Recreation Center in Northeast Philly: …The voter expressed skepticism regarding the location. I tried two different databases and got the same info. I also gave her the telephone number for the Bd. of Elections.” [No followup on what "skepticism" means]
• From 370 Devereaux Ave. in Northeast Philly: “The voter works for the Philadelphia Fire Dept. and complained that due to the length of his applicable shift — 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. –  it is virtually impossible for fire department employees to vote. I told him I would forward his complaint, noting that the Committee of Seventy has been advocating liberalized absentee voting requirements.”

If you’re interested in volunteering with the group go here, or read more about them here. See a video on Seventy below.

Oh, today is the much hyped Pennsylvania primary.

If you’re registered in Philadelphia and need to know where you’re voting, using the Committee of Seventy’s Citizen Access Center. Oh, and if you’re an Independent or Republican and feeling bummed out ’cause everyone is talking Obama/Hillary, fear not, in Philadelphia, there are also two ballot questions that mean a whole lot to some people. Want a real explanation of what to do?

See that from the Committee of Seventy and their endorsements.

Today, I’m helping oversee Philadelphia’s polling locations with a team of more than 800 volunteers collected by the Committee of Seventy. I am looking at an entire database of complaints around the region and will share the best of them from the day.

Here are a couple. In at 7:35 a.m. from a Chester County man.

I am a Republican. Should I bother to vote?

In this region, that is a real question, particularly when even the suburbs are going blue. But, in Philadelphia, for one, there are ballot questions that everyone can vote on. So get out there.

A second: What’s the least comforting reason for your polling place to be moved? Because it’s a crime scene.

But, that’s what’s allegedly happening in North Philadelphia, for the 25th Ward, 14th division. A troubling reminder of life for some on the 1800-block of West Somerset, near Lehigh and Glenwood Avenues.

But, I’m leading volunteers through the (mostly) peaceful confines of the central Northeast, so I’m not doing much this early on. -Although I have gotten several complaints about the lack of handicapped access at the Pollock Elementary School on Welsh above Holme Circle.

Anyway, so I’m reading up on philly.com. Pretty sweet story about a 103-year-old black woman who has been voting since 1924. (do the math yourself). Check it out here. Kuods to Elmer Smith.