Chris Tremoglie: Election skirmishes and cast-out poll watchers — another Election Day passes in Philadelphia
Perhaps the Trump campaign’s biggest concerns began being played out in Philadelphia early Tuesday, as a GOP poll watcher was denied entrance into a Philadelphia polling location.
Gary Feldman arrived at the Mitchum-Wilson funeral home in South Philadelphia. He was asked for his certificate — and then denied entrance.
Will Chamberlain, editor-in-chief at Human Events, tweeted video of GOP poll watcher Gary Feldman being denied entrance. “So you’re not letting me in?” Feldman asks. “No” replied one of the poll workers.
“If you’re legal, call the police,” the poll worker continues.
Feldman proceeds to show his poll watcher certificate and emphasizes to the workers, “I have a city wide watcher’s certificate.” The workers told him “it was not for this location.” Feldman shows the certificate and pleads his case, asking “Is this the city of Philadelphia?” A worker vehemently proclaims, “You’re not coming in here, go!”
Feldman then shows the certificate again and says, “I have a watcher’s certificate and it says it is good in every ward and division in the city.”
Chamberlain also tweeted a picture of Feldman’s watcher certificate. The certificate states in bold black letters at the top: “This certificate authorizes the individual to watch in any ward/division in Philadelphia.”
When made aware of the event on Chamberlain’s Twitter, the Philadelphia City Commissioners tweeted: “Can you please [direct message] us more details such as location? We will investigate this. Need Ward and division. Thank you.”
In an interview with the Daily Caller, Philadelphia Election Day Operations Spokeswoman Rachel Trip said, “Gary Feldman, a certified poll watcher, was illegally denied entry to the Mitchum-Wilson funeral home, despite presenting his certificate that guaranteed entry to polling places citywide.”
She added that this experience is not unique and is “one of over a dozen instances of election interference reported across Philadelphia in just three hours since polls opened this morning.”
Mike Roman, a Trump 2020 EDO Director, also pointed out some suspicious activities on his Twitter feed. In one tweet, Roman highlighted a voter appeared to be stuffing multiple, repeated ballots into a ballot box, in violation of rules which specify that voters are only allowed to deliver their own ballots.
In another tweet, Roman alleged that political operatives were electioneering inside of polling stations, which must remain politically neutral, in Philadelphia. This particular instance shows a man allegedly distributing Democrat campaign literature inside the polling location. Rules specify such things are only permitted more than ten feet outside of polling locations.
Former City Council candidate Irina Goldstein tweeted a video of an illegal political sign needing to be removed at a Philadelphia polling location. And yet another tweet allegedly involved the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office coming out to investigate voter interference and improper political sign placement.
As Pennsylvania keeps counting, voters will be left to weigh the evidence as to how elections are being run in Philadelphia.
Chris Tremoglie attends the University of Pennsylvania and has been published in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily Caller, Washington Examiner, and National Review. @cwtremo.
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