Mr. Joe, you good? Good morning. and I call to order the meeting of the Philadelphia City Commissioners Board of Elections for Wednesday, October the 15, 2025. This meeting is in compliance with the
Pennsylvania Sunshine Act. The Philadelphia City Commissioners are a three member bipartisan board of elected officials in charge of elections and voter registrations for the city of Philadelphia. Each commissioner is elected to serve a four-year term that
coincides with the municipal election cycle for mayor and city council. The commissioner set and enforce departmental policies to administer voter registration and conduct elections in accordance with federal and state voter registration and election laws.
The city commissioners were created by the Pennsylvania assembly in 1711 with a focus on taxation and held various regulatory powers throughout the century. The commissioner started maintaining voter lists in 1799 and took on more election related
responsibilities, but didn't emerge into its current form until the adaption of Philadelphia's home charter in 1951. Public comment. We will start off with public comments. Before beginning their comments, commenters shall state where they live or if they are not a resident
of Philadelphia and that they are a Philadelphia taxpayer. Public comment is not an opportunity for dialogue or Q&A. It is public comment, a chance for you to tell us what you think. Each speaker will have two minutes to speak. However, I may extend
the time at my discretion. Public comment must concern matters on today's meeting agenda. Finally, it is my responsibility to preserve the order and decorum of the meetings. As such, profane, slanderous, discriminatory, or personal attacks will not be tolerated.
If you wish to make a public objection to a perceived Sunshine Act violation, please raise your hand and I will recognize you. Outburst will not be tolerated. Anyone wishing to offer public comment, please step forward. But before we I know there are people here,
if you're planning on making a public comment about a polling place to change, we'll wait to that part of the agenda. Are you here to make a public comment? Oh, he's here to observe. We don't get that many visitors. Thanks for coming. >> Okay. I'm sorry. I said, "Were you here for
public comment?" >> Okay, good. Well, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome. We don't get that many visitors often, so I said thank you for coming. Okay, having no public comment, uh, we will now proceed to email comment. Secretary Bluestein, are there any email
public comments? >> As of 9:45 a.m., there were no email public comments. >> Thank you very much. We will now proceed to old business. First, we have a report from our directors of election operations and administration, Mr. Joseph Lynch and Mark Johnson. Joe,
we'll start off with you. >> Morning, commissioners. >> This is our public meeting update for October 15, 2025. At the election warehouse, the voting machine services unit finished final repairs and made sure all machines that
required a repair were final final tested, times checked, reset, and cleared for election day. There are also they're also getting all the machines ready to ship. The e- pole book unit is working to ensure the electronic electronic poll books are
fully prepared and operational for election day. The election materials unit has been working to ensure that the supplies needed for our poll workers are ordered, organized, and ready for packing. For the election cycle to date, the O
and Spring Garden has processed 114,274 voter registration applications, of which 109,224 were electronic and 5,50 were paper. All applications are up to date.
As of Tuesday, the County Board of Elections approved 92,334 vote by mail and absentee applications, which is 6,74 added from last week's total. Of those, 51,848
are paper applications and 40,486 are electronic. This includes military and civilian overseas voters. We currently have 228 electronic applications waiting to be processed. A total of 92,462
ballots have been sent out. So far, we received 29,772 ballots through the United States Postal Service and 3,62 through dropboxes for a total of 32,834
valid ballots. This total does not include the UACava ballots. The county board of elections office located at city hall room 140 is open for in-person mail ballot services. Voters can request an absentee mailin or
replacement ballot in person and return all in the same visit. Office hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p. p.m. Monday through Friday and 10:00 a.m. to 400 pm on Saturday and Sunday. Voters who would like to vote by mail
for November 4th municipal elections can apply for a mailin or absentee ballot at vote.fill.gov. The deadline to apply is Tuesday, October 28th at 5:00 pm. ID verification letters have gone out to voters that either did not include the
required proof of identification on their absentee/malein ballot application or their proof of identification could not be verified by the county board of elections office. Voters who have received this letter may submit their proof of ID to the county board of elections via email via ele
philly electionfill.gov of fax, US mail, telephone, or in person. Voters have until midnight on November 10th to return their proof of identification for the municipal election. Cycle 5, second Friday, pre-election
campaign finance reports are to be completed by city candidates and their committees as of October 20th, 2025. The filing deadline for the county board of to receive all reports is October 24th,
2025. The board workers unit is finishing up its fall training seminars with 2,260 participate participants already in attendance. The schedule is posted on our website. 3,985
board workers completed online trainings which is available on which is available on our websites. Weekly reminders are being sent to poll workers who have not yet confirmed their attendance. Confirmation calls for all wards continue and so far we have confirmed
6,599 pole workers. Satellite election offices are open to the public with staff available available from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday and 10:00 a.m. to 400 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Locations
are listed on our website at vote.fill.gov gov. Dropboxes throughout the city are open for voters to drop off their ballots. Thank you. That's all I have. Commissioners, >> thank you. Joe, >> vice chair dearly. Do you have any questions for Joe?
>> Thank you, Chairman. I have none. >> Secretary Bluen, do you have any questions? >> I have none. Thank you. >> Thanks. I appreciate you. >> Mark, can you please provide your report? >> Good morning, commissioners. >> Uh, just give me a little grace because
I'm still haven't caught up with my voice. Um, with just a few weeks remaining, our six administrative unions remain focused on operational readiness and supporting the integrity of the election process. Um, budget procurement. The team continues to manage ongoing budget activities,
including the renewal of key contracts and the processing of encumbrances across multiple financial systems. Efforts remain focused on ensuring that all invoices and vendor payments are completed in a timely manner to support election operations. The department is also reviewing legacy accounts and
reconciling outstanding financial items from past fiscal years to maintain full compliance and transparency. Immediate priorities include finalizing contract renewals, monitoring expenditures, and aligning remaining funds to ensure all operational needs are met leading up to
the general election. Um, communication. This week, the communication units focused on public facing voter education and internal coordination with upcoming media events. The team created and posted social media content highlighting voter registration
reminders, office closures, and poll worker recruitment graphics. They finalized and distributed new flyers for satellite office hours, Dropbox locations, and alternative ballot return sites while continuing while continuing updates to the 2025 general election
social media toolkit. The revised pole worker training video was finalized and uploaded and website content was updated to include unverifiable ballot guidance and translated material for um um white
boxes. Um, communications also supported press logistics for both the upcoming voter registration deadline press conference and the lieutenant governor's event which was held this morning. They assisted with PISA with poll workers events at SEO 9 and 10, managed the
department's press inbox and coordinated PSA content corrections with media consultants. Um, engagement unit. The engagement team continued citywide voter outreach throughout several successful events. staff distributed resources and demonstrated voting machines at
locations including beyond literacy congressional uh uh red salam central library and the northeast regional library residents expressed appreciation for the availability of translated material and opportunities to learn
about voting process. One memorable interaction came from a voter education session where a father explained to his young son that voting means choosing candidates who res represent our values and protected our rights. Additional outreach took place at the Thomas F.
Donatui Library and the Philadelphia Fire Department engine 20. The team is also preparing to participate in the upcoming Taste of the Philippines events as part of the PICO multicultural series later this month. Um, human resources, workplace planning continues as the team
manages staffing, training, and transaction related activities. Temporary staff orientations are ongoing, which should be coming to a close. I think we've hired all our temporary staff and HR continues to oversee active
investigations, employee relations matters. As of October 13th, our total workforce stands as 200 employees, including 31 exempts, 169 civil servants, 21 temporary staff hires from for the general election. This breakdown
includes 54 clerk ones, 32 clerk twos, 20 clerk threes, eight trade helpers, and eight voting machine mechanics. um information technology unit remains focused on election night preparations including police route mapping and polling place optimization analysis.
There are actively configuring the cell phones used by the poleworker unit and have successfully act activated all assigned devices. Um all camera monitoring dropbox locations are currently active and recording as required. Um the IT department is also
working closely with the city commissioners investigation unit to ensure all polling locations are accurately documented and mapped for election day operations. In addition, IT department IT unit is coordinating with the police department reports and control unit to finalize polling place data for the election voting material
collection. The team continues to support technical operations across all satellite offices remain voterfacing platforms to ensure accessibility and accuracy. Um, from a security standpoint, coordination continues with the Philadelphia Police
Department, OEM, and contracted partners. This team remains focused on securing staff, facilities, and voters throughout the election period. >> Thank you, Mark. Vice Chair Dill, do you have any questions? >> Thank you. I have none. >> Secretary Blstein, do you have any questions?
>> I have not. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mark. We will now proceed to new business. We will begin by considering our first agenda item, polling place changes. We will hear from our polling places and investigation supervisor, Charlie Stro.
>> Good morning, commissioners. >> This is the last of four hearings and I have seven proposal for changes today. The first four will be in the 12th ward, the fourth division, the fifth division, the sixth division, and the seventh division. all moving out of the shrine
and miraculous medal to the Haitian church and this is due to a refusal. >> Having heard the recommendation of the professional staff, I move that we accept the poll in place change for ward 12 division 4, five, six, and seven. Is there a second?
>> Second. >> Secretary Blstein, please call a role. >> Vice Chair Dey, >> I vote I. >> I vote I. Chairman Seabir, >> I. >> Please proceed. Next two will be in the 30th ward, the eighth division and the 16th division, moving out of the
storefront at 2439 South Street to another storefront at 617 South 24th Street due to a refusal. >> Having heard the recommendation of the professional staff, I move that we accept the polling place change for Ward
30, division 8 and 16. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Secretary Blstein, please call the role. Vice Chair Dy >> I. >> I vote I. Chairman Sabir >> I. Please proceed. >> Last but not least in the 51st ward, the third division moving out of Philly's
auto and parole to the Kamaji school and that is due to refusal. >> Having heard the recommendation of the professional staff, I move that we accept a poll in place change for award 51 division 3. Is there a second? >> Second.
>> Secretary Blues team, please call the role. Vice Chair Dy >> I >> I vote I chairman Seabir >> I this is our last item in the agenda before we adjourn. Thank you Sher. >> You're welcome. >> Before we adjourn Vice Chair Diller, did
you have any business to be raised at this meeting? >> I have none. Thank you. >> Secretary Bluestein, do you have any other business to be raised this meeting? >> I have none. Thank you. >> There are no other business. A motion to adjourn today's meeting. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Secretary Blueste, please call the role. Vice Chair Dy
>> I >> I vote I chairman Seabir >> I