Storm a hindrance on primary election day in the Lehigh Valley, but the voting goes on
By Stephanie Sigafoos, Matt Coughlin, Daniel Patrick Sheehan and Tim Darragh
Of The Morning Call |
Allentown voters explain their reasons for voting in the Pennsylvania primary on Tuesday, May 15, 2018.
With carefully scripted messages, coaching on body language and piles of voter data, candidates running for state and federal offices try to control as many elements as possible going into a big race.
But Mother Nature remains one variable that can't be corralled.
And so it was Tuesday, when a brilliant, summery day turned into an early nighttime of heavy rains and winds in mid-afternoon, throwing a wild card into voting plans just as many were commuting home from work with a stop at the polling place along the way. Power went out in some places, and downed trees and limbs hampered travel.
Severe storms and a tornado warning came to the Lehigh Valley around 4 p.m. Power outages were reported at several precincts, primarily in the Slate Belt area, according to Dave Zawick, voting machine custodian for Northampton County.
As of 6:30 p.m., a PPL power outage map showed the hardest-hit area in the region's new 7th Congressional District was around Stroudsburg, where 3,000 customers were without power.
One precinct reporting an outage was Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Upper Mount Bethel Township.
However, the voting machines have up to 16 hours of battery life and were expected to continue operating, Zawick said.
Power was out at Palmer precinct Western #1 at St. Andrews Church Hall on Freemansburg Avenue around 6 p.m. Poll workers were helping voters by flashlight and iPhones. Batteries on the voting machines were reported to be working.
Ken Starace of Palmer Township signs in as Brett Fleming, an election clerk, uses his smartphone to light up the table Tuesday, May 15, 2018 at St. Andrews Church in Palmer Township after a storm knocked out the power. (RICK KINTZEL / THE MORNING CALL)
Lehigh County reported that some precincts had lights flickering during the storm. Salisbury Middle School also lost power, but that outage was unrelated to the storm. The polling place operated on generator power.
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Tim Benyo, chief clerk of elections and registration, said Lehigh County voter machines have two to four hours of battery life, though they don't test the machines to see how long the batteries last. If machines lose power, voters could still cast paper ballots.
The weather "hasn't disenfranchised anyone yet. We're going to make sure we keep people voting," Benyo said.
Up until mid-afternoon, it was mostly a picture-perfect settings for voters.
The polls were barely open when Ben Wilson, a tall 18-year-old dressed for the warm morning in shorts and a T-shirt, strode into First Presbyterian Church in Allentown to vote for the first time.
Wilson, a Democrat enrolled at Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy in Bryn Mawr, was excited to have a say in the primary elections that will establish the candidates for November's ballots.
Among the races is the closely watched contest for the congressional seat vacated by U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent. The veteran Republican announced in the fall that he wouldn't run again, setting up a six-way Democratic primary and a two-candidate contest on the Republican side.
"[It's] pretty cool just having an impact on society," said Wilson, numbering gun control among the issues that brought him to the polls.
That's likely to be a common denominator among many young voters. The Feb. 14 Parkland High School shooting in Florida fueled student-driven campaigns to elect candidates who favor gun restrictions.
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Wilson said he looks forward to "having my vote count as something to a greater goal. Like, they say, one vote matters and I hope to do something that counts."
Today's election is the first under the new congressional maps that have redefined Pennsylvania's legislative districts. In February, Pennsylvania's State Supreme Court officially reshuffled the state's 18 districts.
The former 15th district was redrawn to reunite all of Northampton and Lehigh counties, along with a slice of southern Monroe County, and renumbered as the 7th congressional district.
The entirety of Lehigh and Northampton counties will be in a newly redrawn congressional district that includes a slice of southern Monroe County. (PENNSYLVANIA SUPREME COURT)
The Republican race for the seat pitted Dean Browning, chief financial officer of an aviation company, against Marty Nothstein, an Olympic cyclist turned Lehigh County commissioner. (Browning was also once a county commissioner.)
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Voter Lisa Scheller, a 58-year-old executive, said she was backing Nothstein, citing his "outside perspective."
"He is a small-business man, he has great values and his position on the issues is what this country needs," she said.
At the Jewish Community Center in Allentown, Ralph Werley, who lives in the Above and Beyond Senior Living facility, voted for Browning. He said he knows the candidate and likes his experience in local government and business, credentials that reminded him of Dent.
Six Democrats wanted the job. Among the leaders were community organizer Greg Edwards, who enjoyed Sen. Bernie Sanders' support, and Susan Wild, former Allentown solicitor. Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli leans right on certain issues, such as immigration, but was also very much in the mix.
Morganelli's opponents argued that he is too conservative for the district's Democratic base, but he had the backing of Lanny Davis, an attorney and ally to the Clintons. He also earned the support of former Philadelphia District Attorney Lynn Abraham.
Some voters were undecided even as they approached the booth at the community center.
"They are both solid choices," said Sarah Burton, 25, an adjunct professor at Lehigh Carbon Community College who had narrowed her Democratic options to Edwards and Wild.
"As a woman and someone concerned with the LGBT community, I think it is important to elect people who are going to support our rights," she said.
Chris Hewatt, a 32-year-old institutional design instructor at DeSales University, said it was an important year to vote on education.
"Right now we have decisions being made by some people who have not been involved in the ground level of education," said Hewatt, a Democrat.
Leaving Easton's 3-2 precinct on College Hill, 33-year-old Jonathan Asayag said he voted for Edwards, saying the candidate was the most in step with the newly formed district and its demographic makeup.
"I really like his message," said Asayag, noting Edwards was endorsed by liberal firebrand Sanders. "I thought that was neat. More of a progressive."
Asayag said Morganelli doesn't mesh with the politics of the region, though he called the prosecutor a "great person" nonetheless.
"He would be a good candidate but more for Western Pennsylvania, where the people have more conservative values," he said.
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At Easton's Ninth Ward on the South Side, Richard McIntyre said he voted for Edwards, finding he lined up with the candidate on all issues.
McIntyre, a 64-year-old retired music teacher, said he was also turned off by attack ads from groups supporting Morganelli and Wild.
"While Susan Wild and John Morganelli were having a fist fight of negative campaigning, it seemed like Greg Edwards didn't get involved with that," McIntyre said. "I think that is worth a lot."
Overall, eighty-four candidates are running in 18 House districts. That's more than any time since 1984, when Pennsylvania had 23 seats in the House.
Five of Pennsylvania's 13 GOP House members have resigned or are not running again, helping create seven House vacancies, the most in Pennsylvania since 1976.
Jonathan and Susan Smith, both Democrats from South Whitehall, want to see significant changes in Congress.
Jonathan Smith, a salesman, said he is disappointed in the current legislature.
"I don't think there is anybody who is willing to face up to the abuse of power and that's very disheartening. And I am talking about Democrats as well as Republican."
"Even though it might seem unimportant to some, I finally get to have a say," said first-time voter Rebecca Docteroff, 18.
The Bethlehem Township resident, who is a Democrat, said she voted for Edwards, the founder and senior pastor of Resurrected Life Community Church in Allentown for the 7th District nomination.
Docteroff said the issues that matter to her most this election are restoring funding for Planned Parenthood, protecting legal immigrants and stricter gun control.
"Overall, I wanted to vote for people who stand for the things I stand for," she said.
Hannah German, 20, a Bethlehem resident, said she voted for Mango and Dean Browning. "I'm tired of seeing how Trump wants to do things, like end the opioid crisis, and no one wants to work with him," she said.
German also said gun control is very important to her. She supports more stringent background checks, but said she also thinks it's important to protect a citizen's right to own a firearm.
Easton resident Carla Zelinski, 27, a server and barista who works two jobs, supported Edwards and John Fetterman for lieutenant governor with her vote. She said Bernie Sanders' support for them was important to her, because he was her pick for president in 2016.
All three support important issues for her, like single-payer health care, she said. "They are very much for the people," she said. "They're not rich guys looking to maintain the status quo."
Troy Reynard, 54, cast a ballot for Wild at Forks Elementary School. Reynard, who owns the Cosmic Cup and Two Rivers Brewing in Easton, said he was torn between Wild and Edwards. "I'm an old white man. It's time to let women and minorities have a share of power," he said.
Ultimately, he thought Wild had a better chance of beating Morganelli, whose stances on immigration and marijuana Reynard didn't like.
Wild "represents our best chance to be able to take the house seat as a Democratic seat, and I'm super-opposed to Donald Trump and everything he stands for," Reynard said. "I think it looks very good for Democrats in the fall."
Voters also picked candidates in the gubernatorial primary, in which Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf ran unchallenged for a second term. The Republicans vying for the chance to challenge him in November were self-funded millionaires Scott Wagner and Paul Mango and Pittsburgh attorney Laura Ellsworth.
Finally, voters selected their candidate in a U.S. Senate race, choosing whether U.S. Rep Lou Barletta or Jim Christiana will be the nominee facing U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., in November. Barletta, a former Hazleton mayor, has President Trump's backing.
Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia are all seen as vitally important to the Democrats. All three are states Trump won in 2016 and their Democratic senators are seeking re-election this year.
Allentown voters Andy Webbink and Jessica Ton, both 33 and both Democrats, arrived early at First Presbyterian and said they hope to see a good turnout for both parties today.
Primary elections are traditionally slow, but electoral stakes are always high.
"I have not missed a vote yet and I'm not going to now," said Webbink, a tutor.
Ton, a physician, said her immigrant parents survived war in Vietnam to give her a chance to vote. "I really appreciate being able to do this," she said.
Staff writer Riley Yates contributed to this story.
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