DeLissio wins 194th Legislative District [updated]

Here’s a look at what happened today when Northwest Philadelphia, and the rest of the state, headed to the polls. 

10:15 p.m. update  According to the Philadelphia City Commissioner’s office website, DeLissio has won 71.33 percent of the vote with 53 of 55 precincts reporting.

10 p.m. update About 25 to 30 people showed up to JD McGillicuddy’s on Leverington Avenue for Bill Pounds’ watch part. before 8:30 p.m. Pounds was visibly upset as the results were coming in. 

“[Pounds] had a very good response, it’s just that there’s a lot of voters in this. That’s a lot of people who are going to naturally pull the democratic lever across the board. We gotta reach them and give them a reason to split the ticket. Compared to the results the governor got, he did a lot better than Corbett did. There’s nothing like coming up short,” said Pounds supporter Michael DeNoia.

9:45 p.m. update From Armond James’ watch party in Old City, the Republican candidate running for U.S. Representative Chaka Fattah’s seat said he was “still hoping for a miracle.”

8:30 p.m. update Polls closed a half-hour ago and watch parties are kicking off. State Rep Pam DeLissio is scheduled to be at Maria’s Pizza and Pasta at 8100 Ridge Avenue. 

DeLissio’s challenger, Bill Pounds, is scheduled to be at JD McGillicuddy’s on Leverington Avenue. 

8:15 p.m. NPR and NBC News are among the media outlets who’ve already called Tom Wolf as having won the Pennsylvania governor’s race, ousting incumbent Gov. Tom Corbett after one term in office.

8 p.m. update Naomi Paskin-Parsons, a poll worker at Roxborough High School said the turnout was high for a midterm election. She reported 240 of the 643 registered in divisision 2121 had voted, or 37 percent.

“For a non-presidential race, that’s saying something,” Paskin-Parsons said.

She added that at least a dozen voters said they had noticed misleading flyers in the town that gave false voting locations.

21st Ward leader Lou Agre said he believes the true voter turnout – acounting for outdated registrarion and people who died – could be around 50 percent.

“This is huge,” Agre added.

7:30 p.m. update North Light Community Center said they were having technical problems with one of the polling booths at the beginning of the day but within 1 to 2 hours workers came to fix it.

3:30 p.m. update Republican candidate for the 194th Legislative District told NewsWorks he won’t be coming out to vote today due to a “situation.”

2:30 p.m. update Philadelphia poll workers reported a moderate turnout today as voters trickled in at the Joseph Coleman Northwest Regional Library in Germantown around midday.

Outside the polling place, Ruth Whaley said she voted for Tom Wolf for governor.

“He had a lot of good points, and things about him, I’m standing behind him.”

Fellow Wolf supporter DJ Dialo said anyone who supports more funds for city services gets his vote.

“School system, the streets, sanitation, you know, things to help the whole community, not just parts of the community.” 

Dialo said he was very much in favor of a tax on natural gas drilling to support city schools.

1:15 p.m. update Upon seeing our 12:15 p.m. update, City Commissioner Al Schmidt reached out to NewsWorks to clarify the situation. As opposed to problems with the rolls, he said that three voters had tried to vote at Mifflin but were registered in different areas of the city, something deemed common on Philadelphia election days.

“It had nothing to do with the [voter-roll] books,” he said.

12:15 p.m. update From David Senoff, committeeperson in the 38th ward at Thomas Mifflin School in East Falls, “A lot of people properly registered are not on the rolls and not allowed to vote on machines. This is clearly a problem. Since we have a lot here, I can’t imagine what its like in Center City wards like the 8th.”

12 p.m. update Voting turnout at the Abbotsford Homes — a swath of territory new to the 194th district — was lower than expected. There had been about 60 voters by noon. 

One poll worker, Mary Carson, said there had been a noticeably lower get-out-the-vote effort leading up to this election with only phone calls by campaign staff.

11:20 a.m. update  At the Interact Offices at 4120 Tower St. in Manayunk was one polling booth. Folks noted that the polling location, located at the top of one of Manayunk’s infamous hills, was inconvenient and difficult for elderly voters to reach.

Voting Coordinator Alyce Bowman says she is part of the volunteer process because it matters. She is a democrat because, “They talk about money for working folks.”

A resident of Manayunk for 53 years, she would also like to see the school system improve so kids can have access to an education like she did.

At Tony Glass Works (235 Cotton St.) poll worker Shybree Walker has been volunteering at the polls for 5 years. He says there are 605 registered voters that are registered to vote there. As of around 8:30 a.m., about 30 people had voted at that location. 

10:20 a.m. update NewsWorks/WHYY education reporter, Kevin McCorry, reports the following from his polling location at Bethany Lutheran Church in Roxborough:

Rebecca Poyourow, a member of Parents United for Public Education and a Cook-Wissahickon parent,  stood on Martin street beckoning passersby to vote for Democrats: Tom Wolf for governor, Chaka Fattah for U.S. Congressman, and Pam Delissio for state representative.

“I’ve been waiting to be out here for the last three years of my life,” said Poyourow, who sends her two children to public schools in the city. “Ever since the budget cuts of 2011, when I learned about those, my stomach just dropped out from inside me. I’m a mom with two kids and I knew that their public school would be terribly impacted by that.”

9:30 a.m. update Susan Marcinek is a volunteer sitting outside North Light Community Center in Manayunk handing out cards for Bill Pounds, who is running for state representative for the 194th Legislative District against incumbent Pam DeLissio.

Marcinek says she wants to see Pounds bring more jobs to Pennsylvania. She added she doesn’t expect a large turnout today.

Volunteer Elizabeth Fischer is campaigning for state Rep. Pam DeLisio.

“I think education is the major issue here and I know a lot of people in this community that are really concerned with it,” says Fischer.

8:21 a.m. update Twitter user Caitlin Stopper tweeted to WHYY’s Morning Edition Host, Jennifer Lynn, that her polling location in Manayunk opened 15 minutes late and that none of the kiosks worked. She had to leave without voting. 

8 a.m. update Northwest Philadelphia editor, Brian Hickey, voted at Mifflin School in East Falls.

“Short line but steady activity. The polls were moved from the auditorium to the hallway, however, because of a complaint about the ADA compliance of the ramp in the auditorium. Complaintant said it was too steep (though it’s less steep than the ADA-compliant ramp to get inside the building.)”

7:15 a.m. update State Rep. Pam DeLissio, who is running for her third term in the 194th Legistlative District, voted at Ladder 30 in Roxborough. 

“Voter turnout is predicted to be less than robust and that has got to change. It’s early in the morning so everyone has to make a plan to vote today,” says DeLissio. “If people don’t come out to vote the polls are meaningless so it’s up to the people today.”

There were about 10 people in line and ready to vote when the polls opened at Ladder 30. 

Additional information

Don’t know where to vote? Check out the Committee of Seventy guide to polling places. 

Click here for NewsWorks’ live blog of the gubernatorial race and legislative races throughout the state.

Brian Hickey, Lauren Gruber, Brad Larrison, Marcus McCarthy, Neema Roshania and Bas Slabbers contributed to this report.