FILADELFIA – At a school sports stadium in north central Philadelphia, Sheila McCoy, 67, voted 34 days before Election Day and voted for President Donald Trump.
This “satellite office” of the electoral council at Temple University’s Liacouras Center is now the subject of national intrigue. During Tuesday’s debate, Trump said the city had denied the facility for its election observers.
A day later, Trump’s crusade threatened to sue if he didn’t allow access.
“All the debacle that took place in Philadelphia fears everyone who announces electoral integrity,” cross lawyer Linda Kern wrote in a letter to Philadelphia commissioners. “The people of Philadelphia deserve better. “
In Wednesday’s two-hour space, about 4 more people entered the satellite polling place to request ballots via mail. No symptoms were published outside the construction gates involving it as a satellite polling place, and at most those who approached the liacouras center did not know how to access the construction (many doors were closed).
For those who crossed the maze, a dozen election officials sat idle at folding plexiglass tables with electoral fabrics in their hand.
“All over the edge, ” said McCoy, no one told me who to vote for. “
In fact, McCoy said he was unaware of Trump’s comment that “bad things happen in Philadelphia. ” McCoy said she fell asleep about 30 minutes after the debate began.
In the final moments of Tuesday’s debate with former Vice President Joe Biden, Trump said election observers had been “evicted” from the city’s seven satellite offices.
Trump is making “completely inaccurate” statements about those satellite election offices, Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said.
Also: “Bad Things in Philadelphia”: How Pa. Arrived in the Presidential Debate Six Times
READ MORE: The Anti-Defamation League was alarmed by the build-up of ‘extremist activities’ around elections
On Twitter, the president’s son claimed that election observers had been “blocked and expelled” from polling stations.
Are anyone surprised that pollsters are blocked and expelled from polling stations in Philadelphia?We’re in court right now!Https: //t. co/94d90P7KTW
Boockvar noted several inaccuracies in those statements.
Among them, ballot observers have still been approved through Philadelphia or a Pennsylvania County Board of Elections to review ballots on Election Day.
“There are still no observers on the ballots,” Boockvar said. “They literally don’t exist right now. “
Designated observers are tasked with tracking polling stations: county polling stations, Boockvar said.
At Philadelphia’s satellite polling stations, citizens can register to vote, if necessary, request a survey by mail in person, obtain it, vote and send it back, all in one place, he said.
Voters can bring their mailed ballots to satellite offices, and any voter can use any of the city’s satellite offices.
But Boockvar’s assurances did little to stop the Trump campaign, which threatened to register a complaint Wednesday afternoon if he did not have quick access.
“No one doubts that the people of Philadelphia vote in those places,” Kerns wrote. “As a result, the rejection of the observer crusade has no rational basis and deprives the crusade of its control of the process. “
Wednesday at the Liacouras Center, voter Beverly Quintancy said she was unaware of Trump’s comments and that she “didn’t care. “
“I don’t pay attention to this man, ” said Quintancy. He asked for a survey in the mail that would be sent home, he said. The procedure lasted about five minutes, he added.
When asked about Trump’s comments, McCoy said the president is only interested in power. “Even if he’s re-elected, I think he’ll find a way to be re-elected in four years,” McCoy said. it’s about being able to. “
Ten more satellite elections are scheduled in Philadelphia before the November 3 election.