April 2008 Archives

I often ask myself, "Who are the people who answer these political opinion polls?" As of Wednesday one answer is, "me." The day after the six week lead-up to the Pennsylvania Primary, a woman from the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute called our house on the phone (on the land line) and spoke with me. I suspect it was legit because she did have a pronounced "Lon Geyeland"/Tri-State accent (OK -- that's uncalled for!), didn't ask any type of phishing questions, and told me right up front that it would take about 9 minutes.

She asked me questions about party affiliation, presidential preferences, and broad demographics. There was clearly that "N% of people who favored Democrat A, would not vote for Democrat B in the fall" feel to it. She fired off the questions, I answered them and after 9 minutes and 12 seconds we were done. I lengthened the survey by answering a question she didn't give me about a contest between Mickey Mouse and a candidate whom I won't mention. At the end I told her I very much appreciated the Quinnipiac Polls.

So now I know. I've met the unnamed, middle class, white Pennsylvanian swing state voter and he is I.

Due to an unusual confluence of electoral and lunar calendars, this year's Pennsylvania Primary fell during Orthodox Christian Holy Week. I suspect this was probably lost on most people who aren't Orthodox Christian. Precinct 31 where I am the Inspector of Elections and my ITS colleague Dave Beyerle is the Judge was right in the middle of it however. You see, several years ago when our precinct was told that voting could no longer occur in the schools, we were without a community building in which to hold elections. Other than schools and a State College Borough physical facility, there are no community buildings with parking in our precinct. Enter the newly refurbished Holy Trinity Orthodox Church. While not quite in our precinct, it is much closer to the mid-point of our neighborhood. The facilities are wonderful and Father John and his staff have made Precinct 31 feel right at home. They call it part of their ministry to the community. We and our voters feel welcome at our new digs.

When we arrived at the polling place on Tuesday morning there were signs posted front and back to let the worship community and voting community know which entrance to use. Apparently, Father John, knowing that there would be two services on Tuesday realized both our community and his congregation would be confused. Notice that the religious activity occupies the "Higher Ground." One of my neighbors, a Law School faculty member, commented, "Clearly we have a separation of Church and State here." (I can't take credit for the title.)

Voting was steady, but not particularly busy all day. It was one of the higher turnouts we've had for a presidential primary. We had a few firsts yesterday. We did our first Provisional Ballot; in fact we did three of them. The main reason was that someone changed to a party affiliation from "Not Affiliated" and it wasn't represented that way in the book. A judge will have to decide, but the Pennsylvania elections rules allow for someone to vote provisionally if she thinks she has done the paperwork correctly. We also had a voided absentee ballot. An absentee ballot is cast when someone believes he will be out of the area for the election. If he is not, that voter under law is supposed to show up at his polling place, have his absentee ballot voided, and vote in person. We had two people do that. Those types of activities keep our Judge of Elections (the unflappable Mr. Beyerle) busy. We had a glitch when we went to initialize the machines, but that was solved by 6:30 AM. Apparently several other precincts had the same problem because it was known when Dave called in. Other than that, the machines functioned well all day.

We wrapped up our day around 9:30 PM, and two of the board members drove the results to Bellefonte. Everything went smoothly this year and the day went very quickly. We enjoyed some beautiful singing as the services went on upstairs and I think, because of the signs, everyone when to the right location.

To the folks at Holy Trinity Orthodox Church and Precinct 31 -- We'll see you in November!

I'm headed out to the 31st precinct polling place now to meet my co-worker Dave and a few other "regulars." Don't forget to vote today! Polls are open from 7 am to 8 pm.

So began a speech made 40 years ago this evening by Senator Robert Kennedy announcing to his mostly African American audience in Indianapolis that Dr. Martin Luther King had been shot and killed. Joe Klein's book, Politics Lost, begins with a description of this moment in time and laments the fact that Presidential campaigns have gone down hill ever since. When our current discussions concern bowling scores in Altoona, he just might be right.

Last Saturday at the TLT Symposium, Professor Nichola Gutgold spoke of rhetorical moments like this and how she uses YouTube and other on-line resources to engage her students in the study of communications and rhetoric. On the American Rhetoric Web site I linked to above, you can find the text of Senator Kennedy's speech, an MP3 file of the audio recording, and a YouTube rendering for the video for the speech. If you are at all interested in American rhetoric, it's worth spending some time on this site.

This has been a week of remembrance -- the 40 year anniversary of Dr. King's death, his speeches, the people who were with him at the time of his death, and the Memphis strikes that brought him there in the first place. We've come a long way, but we still have a way to go.

Take some time and listen to the words of Dr. King and Senator Kennedy. They still resonate 40 years later.

After a huge upset and a minor upset, Notre Dame, who came in as the lowest at-large bid, is going to the Frozen Four. For those who don't recognize the term, the Frozen Four is the NCAA Division I Ice Hockey equivalent of basketball's Final Four. Notre Dame came in as the fourth seed in the West bracket and 13th seed overall. The Irish Icers dispatched top-seeded New Hampshire 7-3 in the first round (two empty net goals make the score look worse that it was) and then upset defending national champs Michigan State to get into the Frozen Four for the first time in school history.

This is particularly gratifying for me, since my senior year amounted to the dismantling of the Division I program at Notre Dame. In a cost cutting measure, Notre Dame dropped down to club status after the 1982-1983 season. This was good from the players because it allowed them to immediately transfer to other D-1 schools without sitting out for a year (most did not). Notre Dame returned to Division 1 in 1988 with a "no scholarships" program. The program's profile was raised in 1995 when former Irish and Philadelphia Flyers' captain Dave Poulin returned as head coach. Poulin took them to their first NCAA tournament. Under current coach Jeff Jackson the Irish have been to the NCAAs the last 2 years, including this year's Frozen Four appearance. The Irish Icers play The University of Michigan on April 10.

A final point: by hiring Dave Poulin in 1995, Notre Dame recommitted to varsity ice hockey. I hope that one day, Penn State will make the same commitment to our Men's and Women's Ice Hockey teams. The programs are strong and the talent is there. Like Notre Dame, the Penn State teams will pay their dues in the early going, but with the ability to draw world class talent because of our academics, it won't be too long before we could make our presence felt in the CCHA (or do I dare think it -- the Big 10 Ice Hockey Conference).

Go Irish! Best of luck in the Frozen Four!