Following the lead of Philadelphia election officials, city District Attorney Seth Williams declared Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s questioning of local election oversight as “false allegations.”
Williams and the City Commissioners who oversee elections in Philadelphia said Wednesday that the much-anticipated presidential election will be closely watched -- as usual -- by a 70-member-strong task force from the District Attorney’s office on Election Day next week.
Not that they expect any of the “rigging” that Trump has prophesied about the past couple months.
“The coverage of this upcoming election is unlike anything we have seen before, not to mention the fact that one of the nominees for president has been making false allegations about the integrity of Philadelphia’s elections for weeks now, but we are ready,” Williams said. “The Election Fraud Task Force is ready to respond to whatever happens on Nov. 8 and I want to make sure each and every Philadelphian who has a concern or is experiencing difficulty casting their ballot calls us.”
The task force operates every election, and often investigates complaints by voters, poll workers, and poll watchers in the many hundreds of divisions that are the ground-floor units of the city’s political apparatus.
It is made up of 70 assistant district attorneys and several dozen county detectives. Williams said any of his office’s 300 assistant DAs are available to respond to court complaints filed. Typical Election Day allegations include illegal voting, candidate write-in issues, refusal of election boards to recognize poll watcher certificates, intimidation and illegal electioneering.
Here are some pertinent contact numbers and websites for Philadelphia voters on Election Day:
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Once the polls open, Philadelphians can call the Election Fraud Task Force at (215)686-9641, -9643 or -9644 if they are experiencing difficulty casting their ballot.
To find a polling place, go to philadelphiavotes.com or call (215)686-1590 to find out their polling location.
