Voting information in Philadelphia

Major contentious midterm elections take place the nation over today.

Despite the enthusiasm, I’m the reason why getting 60 percent of 170 million registered U.S. voters out there would be a triumph.

I’m fairly politically aware — even my interests are more in local policy than national — and have been involved in government and campaigning in the past. But, like most Americans, I have an excuse.

I spend most of the time leading up to an election pondering the journalism around it, listening and debating both sides — in short, seeing the election through my own prism (in my case, that means something of a balanced journalist).

I feel like most do just that: see the election as an abstract in one’s own sense of self. So the activism, it seems, is someone else’s work.

I do vote, though not in many primaries because I am registered independent, and I do follow the discourse and prepare ahead of time, but much of my preparation is, like most swing voters like myself, very last minute.

So I decided, if only for me, I’d get together the voting resources I use most and usually spend the Monday before Election Day searching for.

In Philadelphia, the four resources I share with friends the most often and a new one:

  • Find your elected officials here — This is for finding out who is marginally affecting your life by voting on legislation that someone else writes.
  • Find your polling place here — This is for when you don’t where you even go to vote.
  • Register to vote here — This is for coming into a new state or changing an address or party affiliation.
  • Find your registration status here — This is for young people who have moved so often in recent years that they don’t even know where they last registered.
  • Google Elections here — This is trying to cover all the above information.
  • Voting Totals here — Information and links  on voting results in Philadelphia from the Committee of Seventy.

Leave a Reply