There were unusually long lines at the Banana Factory precinct (Bethlehem 3N) on election day, as Lehigh students waited for hours before being able to vote. At Northampton County Council's December 5 meeting, VP of Lehigh University Democrats Jack Ciavolella described what he called a "simply unacceptable" election. What really happened?
According to Ciavolella, he dropped friends off at the precinct around 10 am, expecting them to be back around noon. They returned at 7:30 pm. He said there was a similar problem at Kirby Sports Center in Easton, where Lafayette students stood in line for hours. He also complained that in another Bethlehem voting station (1N), voters who left the line found out on their return that they were unable to vote at all after being assured by election workers that they could return.
He said the county should have more voting machines and should also have an early voting station in Bethlehem. He also suggested that paper ballots should be available, although this solution would not really make voting quicker and might actually slow things down. He said there were only two machines.
Not long ago, the judge of elections for Bethlehem 1N testified before President Judge Dally and said that five voters who had to leave were allowed to cast provisional ballots. And Director of Administration Nicole Pietrzak addressed the concerns raised by Ciavolella with Council.
She stated that over the course of election day, nine additional voting machines were deployed. Two replaced machines that malfunctioned. The remaining seven went to precincts with unusually high turnout. Four of them went to Bethlehem's Banana Factory. She indicated the remaining machines went to the Kirby Sports Center and other Bethlehem precincts.
At the Banana Factory, there were three machines, one of which failed to turn on. An ES&S tech arrived on site and recommended that the machine be swapped out. A replacement machine was in place at 11:20 am. At 12:45 pm, a fourth machine was delivered. At 1:20 pm, an addition epollbook was brought to the precinct, along with a pollworker who could operate it. At 2 pm, an additional pollworker arrived. The ES&S tech then returned to the Banana Factory and remained there until the polls closed. At 4:30 pm, another pollworker arrived. At 5 pm, a fifth machine was delivered with another pollbook. At 6 pm, yet another pollworker arrived. At 6:25 pm, two more pollworkers arrived with additional supplies. Twenty minutes later, there were three more pollworkers on site. At 7:35 pm, a sixth machine was delivered. The poll finally closed at 9:30 pm after one replacement machine and three additional voting machines. four pollbooks and 10 additional workers.
The county supplied each precinct with one machine for every 450 expected voters. Turnout at Banana Factory was 37% higher than it was in 2016 and a whopping 87% higher than it was in 2020. "This could not have been predicted," observed Pietrzak. She also noted that the judge of elections for tht precinct, who is elected, seemed to lack the sense of urgency demanded by the situation.
56 comments:
democrats were trying to keep Trump voters out because they knew Harris sucked
Why the hell aren't these students (most likely being indoctrinated by communist professors) voting in their home precincts. We don't need them voting here in the Lehigh Valley, dammit! Who the hell said they could all vote in Bethlehem?
Oh but McClueless said there were no problems. Another lie in his list of lies.
Third election screwup. Northampton can't get it right. Nothing but excuses. This election was not 2016, 2020 or 2022. The hype was greatest on college campuses and whomever was in charge blew it. Using those statistics was meaningless. Her excuses were just more blah, blah, blah. Screwup is a screwup. Stop with your election screw excuses.
So the lesson here is that for the next Presidential election, we will start with a minimum of 5 or 6 voting stations and plenty of poll workers? If the line reaches a certain length additional voting station(s) will be added. At least that is what should happen.
Colleges were keeping kids off campus fall of 2020. Makes sense and was predictable it'd be 37% more than 2016. Blaming 2020 numbers isn't quite defensible
Wasn’t the Vice Chair of the Northampton County Republican Party there inside the polling place disrupting operations ?
Wow ! The County’s response was incredible !
The Republicans Vice Chair is Andrew Azan. Was he at the Banana Factory ? If so, why ? Did he have a poll watcher certificate ?
It is obvious the democrats were trying to keep the vote count down Because a high vote count would give Victory to Trump and they failed as everything the democrats tried in the last 4 years did.
I smell a rat. They had weeks to cast their votes. Adults who are smart enough to be accepted by Lehigh and Lafayette should know better.
Too funny. The libs are still whining. Why didn't LU show up with crying towels and counselors?
My personal opinion is that the practice to allow college students to register and vote where they go to school but are not actual residents is an abuse of the system. Let's look at their drivers license and vehicle registration. Do their parents in NJ, Mass, MD, etc. still claim them as a dependant on their tax return? A little digging would reflect yes. I don't feel bad they had to wait. They were watering down the vote of actual PA residents. This happens in too many major dem college areas (e.g., Centre County in PA, and other parts of the US.)
How many lehigh libs will leave the country because trump won or will they stay and just cry in their beer.
I saw no problems with this election at all, as compared to Mr. Jack Ciavolella, the VP of Lehigh University Democrats. Perhaps the actual problem that concerns the VP of Lehigh University Democrats was THE OUTCOME of the 2024 Presidential Election. Yes?
Steve Barron reported at the Election Commission that the Vice Chairman of the Norco R Party was interfering with the processing of votes at the Bananas Factory. Is that true ?
Trump is your President !
It is a wonder the entitled students didn't demand their own private voting machine.
For what its worth Election is over---Trump won.
This is easily remedied by requesting a ballot by mail and then either mailing the ballot or dropping off at a secure drop box. I will never vote in person again.
I do not know if that is true or not, nor do I know if Barron made such a claim or if you yourself are accurately restating whatever Barron said.
Out-of-state students may register to vote in Pa. but they may only vote once.
I did get the sense that this student was a bit entitled.
Out of state students may vote here if they are registered and list their address here, but they may only vote once.
they had weeks to vote on demand or by mail. Wonder if their address changes to their college address was ready to go when they showed up to vote. I bet they weren't and caused issues. That is their fault
I would not call the long lines a screw-up. No one could have predicted the turnout at those precincts and the county responded quickly once notified of the problem. A more serious problem is beyond county control. Pollworkers can be elected. There are a few out there who simply are not up to the task, but elected officials cannot be removed without the legislature. In this case , the judge of elections actually was not using the extra machines as they arrived and had to be instructed to do so.
According to the LU student, they are unable to get MIBs. I believe he is mistaken.
In what universe was this not “predictable”????? 2020 was a CoVid year and this year’s election was undeniably going to produce a huge turnout. Prior planning prevents piss poor performance.
People keep trying to blame Chris Commini the Registrar for not having enough machines. It’s not his fault. His math was right - even if you consider the 2016 race.
Bernie, your statement is bullshit about not knowing. You and McClure better get your heads out of your butt. EVERYONE IN THE COUNTRY KNEW IT WAS GOING TO BE A BUSY ELECTION DAY
Sounds like the County through everything they had at it !
They 'may' register to vote in the college town, but the commentor above was asking 'why.' And he is correct. No band of 20-year-olds should be able to outvote people who have a life-long stake in a community.
We had fewer problems with the those metal mechanical switch machines in an era without any other option to vote. I guess they aren't coming back. Expect the chaos and confusion to get worse every large turnout year.
As we discuss the difficulties of voting on a nice autumn day, just think about the folly of November voting. Only two weeks after election day the upper Midwest, including several of the sainted 'swing states,' were buried in 3-feet of snow. How would that have affected voting? I have long believed election day should be moved to October.
It's funny that. I vote at Ag Hall in Allentown where there's up to 4 precincts voting and I walked right in and voted. I didn't wait but a moment to sign in.
Who is your Daddy ?=TRUMP
The majority of college students voted for Trump. When Trump takes office I dearly hope he shoves it up the ass of college students by denying student loans or by calling in the loans that are overdue. Trump should put a lien against the parents who co-signed for their kids overdue loans.
We are blessed to live in a country where we can vote. Most times it takes no time at all. Sounds like they adjusted to help with the numbers. We all need to suck it up and stand in line. Sine countries they stand in line for days. A small inconvenience for our freedom.
Vlad, I'm surprised you do not know that those beloved mechanical lever machines were highly inaccurate. The metal parts were becoming impossible to replace and there are numerous instances of the machine failing to record a vote that the elector clearly cast by pulling the lever. On top of that, there was no way that you, the voter, could preview your vote as being cast as you wished. The lever machines were loved by one and all, but they were becoming less and less accurate as they aged, just like me,
6:55, It is certainly true that a large number of young males supported Trump. I know a few who are friends of my grandson. But at the Bethlehem south side and Easton Kirby Center where Lehigh and Lafayette students vote, the vote was overwhelmingly for Harris. You can see this yourself by viewing the election results.
Of course, everyone knew that election day turnout would be high. The registrar predicted how many machines were needed based on the turnout in two previous presidentials as well as the '22 midterm. In most instances he was on the mark. He was off at Lehigh and Lafayette.
Democrats tried to cheat in buck's county, in the senate race and at the banana factory--Lara Trump and her team stopped all of it.
Josh, What you are in effect arguing is that votes by long-time residents should count more than those of recent arrivals. That would be unconstitutional. I think this could be addressed by requiring voters to live longer in a district before being entitled to vote there. Instead of 30 days, how about 6 months? This would force most out of state college students to vote at their real home.
Allentown voted for Harris and look what Allentown is..
Bernie,, if there were some real engineers that could also make there OWN parts operation would still be better.
"Unusually high turnout" ! How incompetent can one be? For weeks the entire nation saw incredibly high early voting numbers. The entire nation knew this would be one of the most highly anticipated elections ever!! Why not have more than enough machines out in the field rather than having to 'deploy'. This is not good for the county the state and the USA.
Trump is an expert at not pay on people back.
Democrats have been cheating since at least the 1960 election putting Kennedy into office in a tight election big help especially from the Chicago democrats.
Interesting Goff, Sykes and Tomei just happened to be available to stop by the polling place and Lehigh.
Democrats have been cheating back to the days of Tammany Hall!
What a fukn retard you are.
Amy C shouldn’t you be looking for a job?
Respectfully Bernie, you are not addressing the issue I raised. I know you knew that with a very bland response about it being legal. That was not the point and as you suggest a recent resident's vote is equal. That is not what JoshLCowen took issue with. The key is lawful voting depends on residency. Most college students from out of state are not PA residents by any other standard and do not wish to be. However, the voting laws were played with to allow someone who goes to school here to vote on the flimsiest of bases without forfeiting the benefits of their home state (valid driver's license, tax dependant deduction based on residency with one's parents). Again, let's see where the residency test actually leads and you know quite well it does not support a bunch of students diluting the vote in a place because their vote is not needed at home. And yes, anyone entitled to vote in PA could have requested a mail in ballot. These students did not seek a mail in ballot because they had no intention of voting in PA until some dem operatives told them it was needed here more than home. ( I say dem because the college towns/ precincts are overwhelmingly blue.)
voting is a right, and everyone who is over 18 and registered is ENTITLED to vote if they meet the rules
Thought experiment for 8:37 -- imagine that the 1% margin swung the other way, and Harris won. Would you be saying the same thing or would you be storming the capitol due to unacceptable theft or ... something?
Not today thank goodness
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