Low Turnouts for Borough Voters

Around 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, Pam Dunn props up election signs scattered on the ground outside of Friendship Fire Company on High Street in the borough.

The wind tossed them, and the signs are rain battered. Out at this, the N-2 polling place, there isn’t any soft ground to dig the spikes into.

Dunn wasn’t trampled by voters in her efforts. Turnout at Friendship was low, just 9.05 percent of voters, compared to 14.99 percent countywide. Election workers showed off a tall stack of Republican tickets next to a much shorter stack of Democrat returns Tuesday afternoon at the firehouse.

Out at Episcopal House on Center Street, a site on election day known as N-3, there was a bit more hubbub. Candidates—positioned the required distance away from the polling place—stood and sat, awaiting voters.

Democratic hopeful Michael Hill occupied a chair by a table stacked with campaign literature, while Jon R. Ichter II, running for council in the Republican primary, stood nearby.

Inside, those behind the tables said it was slow, but they saw a higher percentage than their fellow workers over at Friendship, with 12.85 percent of voters coming out for the primary.

Over in the west ward, Jim Kovaleski, who ended up landing a spot on the Democratic ballot in the fall, was joined by his wife and a friend as they braved the chilly drizzle outside of West End Fire Company Tuesday. Kovaleski faced a contested race with Nina Haslip for the open seat in the borough’s west ward.

All three said it was more a trickle than a flood of voters at the location. Bar patrons took the same path as voters, as the door to the busy bar in the firehouse sits directly across from the door into the polling place.

Inside, claims that turnout was light proved true, with 12.65 percent showing up.

The buzz wasn’t about the primary, but instead about a bad accident on Pothouse Road, near the intersection of Harvest Lane, where another polling place was located.

There, those at the polls at the time heard a loud boom, as reportedly a truck collided with a car, igniting a fire. The accident was not reportedly fatal, but someone was flown out on a helicopter.

The wreck backed up traffic in the area, and turnout at Caines Creek Social Center, which is a west ward polling place, wasn’t good, at just 9.37 percent.

Dana Dugan, a Democratic councilwoman in the west ward, stood near Kendrick Buckwalter, the current council vice president running unopposed on the Republican primary ballot, and each was there to tout his or her party. However, the mood wasn’t very competitive, and as Dugan, who is leaving her seat up for grabs, broke down the table for the day, Buckwalter offered to throw it in his truck.

Over at Phoenixville Borough Hall, after the polls closed, an election worker perched on a table inside, swinging legs. A few minutes later, unofficial results were pasted up in the window.

An open spot on the Democratic ballot for sheriff proved too much for some to resist. Someone wrote in “Doreen Paskoff,” strikingly close to our own Dorene Pasekoff, who moonlights as Phoenixville Patch’s restaurant reviewer, for county sheriff. Another write-in vote for “Ed Rendall” was posted for sheriff, as well.

Turnout there at borough hall proved abysmal, at just 8.23 percent.

Phoenixville Patch will have more on the primaries later and particularly the county races. Stay tuned.