Philly DA, city commissioners team up for election-security task force

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A team of law enforcement officials will work in coordination with Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner to monitor activities and ensure everyone has a fair chance to vote in Tuesday’s primary election.

“The DA, detectives, Philadelphia police, federal partners, and law enforcement has a job to uphold people’s civil rights, their individual rights, and obviously an absolutely essential foundational civil individual right is the right to vote,” Krasner said.

Omar Sabir, city commissioners head, joined Krasner Monday to send a message to anyone trying to cause trouble.

“If you think you can mess with Philadelphia elections, if you think you want to ‘F’ around, you are going to find out,” Krasner said.

Krasner reminded people that he has and will again charge people with election interference, if necessary. In November 2020, Philadelphia police arrested two men near the Philadelphia Convention Center — where mail-in ballots were being counted. Both had loaded handguns on them; neither had a permit to carry firearms in Pennsylvania. They were convicted on weapons counts but acquitted of election interference.

Hot election

Voters will head to the polls on what could be one of the hottest primary days ever.

The city has issued a Code Red starting at noon Monday through 8 p.m. Wednesday, due to the forecast of three straight days of a heat index of 95 degrees or above.

Bob Brady, chairman of the Philadelphia Democratic Party, said the surprise sunshine and hot weather could help bring people to the polls instead of keeping them away.

“It’s going to be strange, we’ve never had it that hot, and I hope it’s going to bring out the vote,” Brady said.

Brady predicted that the 3rd Congressional District race will bring out voters. For other races, the only names on ballots are candidates for the Democratic Committee, who are the truly grassroots part of the system.

“They’re all important. I mean, you know, people die for this. This is a right, you know, people die for the right,” Brady said. “They want to get out and express themselves.”

Sabir said in the last midterm primary vote, less than 1 in 4 people voted in Philadelphia. He expects low turnout again this time around.

“We saw a decline in vote-by-mail requests from 2022 to now. So that normally, kind of, may dictate it may be lower than usual. Again, we’ll see,” he said.

With sunny skies and no rain in the forecast, Sabir said it’s always possible that turnout is higher than expected.

Voters can report any problems they encounter to the DA’s Election Task Force hotline at 215-686-9641.