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TUESDAY OCTOBER 27, 2020 VOL. CXXXVI, NO. 18 136th Year of Publication ISABELLA SIMONETTI President BENJAMIN ZHAO Executive Editor MAX COHEN DP Editor-in-Chief AVA CRUZ Design Editor ASHLEY AHN News Editor JULIE COLEMAN News Editor
CHASE SUTTON
CONOR MURRAY Assignments Editor
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020
ZOEY WEISMAN Copy Editor HADRIANA LOWENKRON Copy Editor SUKHMANI KAUR Photo Editor GRANT BIANCO Opinion Editor SAGE LEVINE Video Editor WILL DIGRANDE Sports Editor MICHAEL LANDAU Sports Editor Cover Illustrations by BRANDON LI
IN THIS ISSUE: GEORGIA RAY DP Design Editor ALANA KELLY Deputy Design Editor QUINN ROBINSON Deputy Design Editor
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KYLIE COOPER News Photo Editor ISABELLA COSSU Opinion Photo Editor JONAH CHARLTON Sports Photo Editor CHASE SUTTON Senior Staff Photographer CAROLINE DONNELLY MORAN Copy Associate
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SERENA HUANG Copy Associate JUNGA (NORA) YOUN Copy Associate COBY RICH Copy Associate SAFFY BASHEY Copy Associate LILIAN ZHANG Copy Associate BRANDON PRIDE Sports Editor
EXPLAINERS 4 Who's who on the
ballot for Philadelphia voters this year? Who exactly is on the ballot, what do they do, and who do they stand for? We summarize everything you need to know.
12 Looking to vote in
OPINION 14 EDITORIAL Recommendations for Philadelphia ballot questions
COLUMN 18 GUEST Why you should
8 Students, professors,
and politicians fear disenfranchisement of voters of color A look into Philadelphia’s voter disenfranchisement, exacerbated by Trump and the COVID-19 pandemic.
vote for Joe Biden
Philadelphia?
Here's how to cast your ballot.
DEEP DIVES
10 Penn students flock 19
COLUMN
Clinton couldn’t have said 'Will you shut up, man'
to early voting, using mail-in ballots and city-run offices Students take advantage of in-person early voting, which began on Sept. 29 and concludes on Oct. 27.
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ELECTION GUIDE
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Who exactly is on your ballot, what do they do, and who do they stand for? We summarize everything you need to know. | BY TORI SOUSA
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020
THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN | THEDP.COM
Who's who on the ballot for Philadelphia voters this year?
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ELECTION GUIDE
CANDIDATES FOR PRESIDENT DEMOCRAT: Joe Biden Biden was a Democratic United States Senator from Delaware for 36 years, until he left the position to serve as vice president during the Obama administration. Since leaving the White House in 2017, Biden became a Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice Professor at Penn, taking a leave from the role in 2019 to run for president. REPUBLICAN: Donald Trump (incumbent) Trump, a 1968 Wharton graduate, was a businessman and real estate mogul before his presidency. He also garnered public attention for hosting the reality television series "The Apprentice" from 2003 to 2015. LIBERTARIAN: Jo Jorgensen The first woman to lead the party’s presidential ticket, Jorgensen previously worked as a marketing representative and later started her own software sales business. Her platform centers around eliminating “big government” mandates and programs, and limiting taxes and government spending. A lifelong member of the party, Jorgensen has also served as the South Carolina vice chair as well as the national marketing director for the Libertarian Party.
GREEN PARTY: Howie Hawkins Hawkins is running on a platform focused on criminal justice reform such as legalizing marijuana, ending mass incarceration, and decriminalizing sex work. He also supports a number of socialist economic policies, and the implementation of the Green New Deal.
PENNSYLVANIA STATE SENATE The Pennsylvania Senate is the upper house of Pennsylvania’s legislative body, forming one half of the legislative branch of Pennslyvania's government with the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. The two entities work with the governor to legislate and address budgetary measures for the state’s governing. The state is made up of 50 state-senatorial districts, each represented by one person who is elected every four years. Only half of the districts come up for re-election every four years, alternating odd and even districts every cycle. Currently, Republicans hold a 34-16 majority. None of the state senators up for re-election in districts that include Philadelphia this November face challengers.
PENNSYLVANIA STATE SENATE: DISTRICT 1 DEMOCRAT: NIKIL SAVAL Saval, running unopposed, was the first Asian American to be elected leader of the 2nd Ward in Philadelphia. Saval prides himself on his aim to “serve the many and not the few,” particularly in his platform surrounding universal healthcare, a Green New Deal for Pennsylvania, investing in public education, civil rights activism, and criminal justice system reform. In the past, Saval engaged in community organization efforts, was a leader in Bernie Sanders’ campaign, and co-founded Reclaim Philadelphia, an organization that provides support for progressive candidates and policies that advocates for the rights of the working class in the city.
PENNSYLVANIA STATE SENATE: DISTRICT 3 DEMOCRAT: SHARIF STREET (incumbent) Street, running unopposed, has served as the Chief Legislative Advisor to the Democratic Chair of the Housing
reform efforts in what he believes to be an “overbearing legal system,” and he is in favor of decriminalizing drugs, and is an advocate of the Second Amendment and abortion rights.
PENNSYLVANIA STATE SENATE: DISTRICT 5
State auditor generals generally deal with determining whether state funding is being used in accordance with the law. The auditor general conducts both financial and performance audits of people and groups that receive state funds, with the aim of measuring the effectiveness of how the state is using its money to sponsor government-sanctioned programs and initiatives for the public good.
DEMOCRAT: JOHN SABATINA JR. (incumbent) Sabatina Jr., running unopposed, is a lifelong Philadelphia resident. He champions issues such as crime prevention and senior citizens' rights. A former Assistant District Attorney, he now serves as the Democratic Chairman of the Transportation Committee, and is also an at-large member of Senate Aging & Youth, Agriculture & Rural Affairs, Community Economic & Recreational Development, and Judiciary committees.
PENNSYLVANIA STATE SENATE: DISTRICT 7 DEMOCRAT: VINCENT HUGHES (incumbent) Hughes, running unopposed, centers his platform around progressive measures like increasing healthcare accessibility, criminal justice system reform, raising the minimum wage, and investing in the public education system. He was elected to the Democratic Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee in 2010, and has also served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from the 190th District.
State attorneys general are the top legal officers of their respective states, according to the National Association of Attorneys General. Typically, they act as public advocates in issues of legislative interest in areas such as child support enforcement, antitrust regulations, environmental causes, as well as handling of criminal appeals and criminal prosecutions.
PENNSYLVANIA STATE TREASURER According to the Pennsylvania Treasury site, this position serves “as the custodian of more than $100 billion in Commonwealth funds.” Treasurers typically manage state investments, monitor any surplus or deficit of state funding, and deposit this funding as appropriate.
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: DISTRICT 5 DEMOCRAT: MARY GAY SCANLON (incumbent) Scanlon, Penn Law graduate, has experience as an attorney at the Education Law Center and President of her local school board. Her platform centers around issues such as voting rights, education reform, gun safety, and the rights of veterans and senior citizens. REPUBLICAN: DASHA PRUETT Pruett emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1980. She is most passionate about retaining the capitalist system in America, lowering taxes, limiting government funding, supporting the second amendment, and providing support for the law enforcement system.
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: DISTRICT 2 DEMOCRAT: BRENDAN BOYLE (incumbent) A Philadelphia native, Boyle has represented a number of districts in Philadelphia for over four years. His platform centers around educational reform, including increasing resources for first-generation college students, health care reform, and budgetary/fiscal responsibility initiatives. REPUBLICAN: DAVID TORRES Torres, also a native of the city and retired healthcare worker, champions reform in the state's handling of the opioid crisis. Torres has overseen recovery programs for recovering drug addicts and alcoholics, as well as in homeless shelters throughout the city. If elected, Torres also hopes to provide increased support for local businesses.
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: DISTRICT 3 DEMOCRAT: DWIGHT EVANS (incumbent) Evans, native of Philadelphia, was the first Black chairman to be elected to the House Appropriations Committee, and has served as a state representative for over thirty years. Now, Evans serves as vice chair of the Small Business Committee, as well as the executive committee of the Congressional Black Caucus. Evans is particularly passionate about investing in our public school system, supporting small businesses, gun violence reform, and advocating for civil rights. REPUBLICAN: MICHAEL HARVEY Harvey, a paralegal who has also served for more than two decades in the U.S. Navy Reserves and U.S. Air Force Reserves, centers his platform around economic improvement, with lower taxes, as well as a citywide push to obtain greater revenue sources from industries such as assembling, manufacturing, warehousing, and public transportation lines.
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DEMOCRAT: JOSEPH TORSELLA (incumbent) Penn alumnus Joseph Torsella advocates for the rights of lower-income and working families, and increasing governmental transparency. In the past, he has served as president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, chair of the Pennsylvania State Board of Education, as well as for the United Nations as an ambassador of budget and management reform. REPUBLICAN: STACY GARRITY Garrity first received significant media attention during her time in the U.S. Army as one of the officers in charge of an internment camp for enemy combatants in Iraq known to treat prisoners humanely. Now, she advocates most strongly for increasing governmental transparency, lowering taxes, and education reform. GREEN: TIMOTHY RUNKLE Runkle also serves as treasurer for the Green Party of Pennsylvania and one of the chairs of the Lancaster County Green Party. Runkle is passionate about increasing accessibility for non-politicians to serve in elected office positions. Runkle helped to develop GreenWave, a pro-
Philadelphia has three Congressional Districts – 2, 3, and 5 – spanning different neighborhoods of the city. The 2nd District is home to most of North Eastern Philadelphia along the Delaware River and North Philadelphia. The 3rd District covers most of West Philadelphia and Center City, and the 5th covers select parts of Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties.
ELECTION GUIDE
DEMOCRAT: JOSH SHAPIRO (incumbent) Current Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, known for his prioritization of communities such as seniors, veterans, and small businesses, is up for re-election this November. During his time in office, Shapiro has championed the fight against the opioid crisis, including advocating for treatment plans and centers for addicts. He is also a strong advocate for marriage rights of LGBTQ couples in Pennsylvania. REPUBLICAN: HEATHER HEIDELBAUGH Heidelbaugh is a litigator who has practiced law for over 30 years and served on the Governor's Commission on Judicial Appointments and the Allegheny County Council. She advocates for “less spending, lower taxes, and common-sense public policy.” Heidelbaugh’s main issues include the elimination of government-based corruption and battling the opioid crisis. GREEN: RICHARD WEISS Weiss has worked domestically as an attorney at the U.S. Agency for International Development in Washington, D.C., as well as internationally, in Indonesia, where he worked on financing for development projects. He champions criminal justice reform issues and supports eliminating cash bail, decriminalizing drug use and sex work, and instituting police review boards in coordination with communities to hold police officers accountable. LIBERTARIAN: DANIEL WASSMER Wassmer is the Libertarian candidate for Pennsylvania’s attorney general. Aside from his service as an attorney, Wassimer has also served as commissioner on the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission, and director of Bucks County Housing Corporation, along with a number of manual labor positions in his career. His platform centers around
DEMOCRAT: NINA AHMAD Before entering the world of politics, Ahmad earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry at Penn. Ahmad was also a successful molecular biologist and small business owner. If elected, she would be the first woman of color appointed to a statewide executive office in Pennsylvania. Ahmad, an immigrant from Bangladesh, advocates for the rights of marginalized communities such as women and people of color. She served on President Obama’s National Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and was the former president of the Philadelphia chapter of the National Organization for Women. REPUBLICAN: TIMOTHY DEFOOR Defoor has more than twenty years of combined experience in law enforcement and auditing, having served as Dauphin County Controller and Investigator and Internal Auditor for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Defoor aims to limit government spending, increase transparency, and strengthen the state’s economy to provide increased job opportunities for its residents. GREEN: OLIVIA FAISON Faison, native to the city, is chair of the Health Center #4 Advisory Committee, currently serving on the Board of Directors for the City of Philadelphia Health Centers. She is most known for her passionate approach to climate change, advocating for the Green New Deal and her promotion of clean energy alternatives. LIBERTARIAN: JENNIFER MOORE Jennifer Moore does not have a candidate page or platform available online.
CONGRESS
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020
PENNSYLVANIA AT TORNEY GENERAL
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gram centered on outreach and information for third-party candidates. He is a strong advocate for environmental reform and civil rights, particularly for indigenous groups and people of color. LIBERTARIAN: JOE SOLOSKI Soloski, who has also served as comptroller and financial analyst, prioritizes the principles of limited government intervention. His platform centers around reducing state spending, enforcing term limits for legislators, and eliminating select taxes such as the state inheritance tax.
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and Urban Development Committee for the Pennsylvania State Senate. A former lawyer and Penn Law graduate, Street prioritizes increasing public accessibility to healthcare, affordable housing, reforming the criminal justice system, and investing in the city's public school system.
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Penn students grind for Biden campaign's home stretch
From tabling on Locust to organizing Floridians, Penn students work to make Donald Trump a one-term president
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020
HANNAH GROSS Staff Reporter
For Penn students working on Joe Biden's campaign, the fall has been filled with 70-hour weeks, tabling on Locust Walk, and running phone bank hubs. As the campaign reaches its final stretch, politically active students are grinding nonstop to help the former vice president emerge victorious in key battleground states like Pennsylvania and Florida next week. These Penn students, some of who have taken a leave of absence to focus all their efforts on the campaign, have spent the last two months working as campus ambassadors or organizers for the Biden campaign. Others have found different ways to get involved with the voting process through organizations like Philadelphia’s Democratic Party. College senior Bayley Tuch works as a chapter coordinator for Penn’s campus ambassadors, serving as an official liaison between Penn students and the Biden campaign as well as the Pennsylvania Democratic Party's Back to Blue PA initiative to help elect Democrats up and down the ballot. As a paid fellow, Tuch spends 30 hours a week bolstering the campaign’s presence on campus by tabling in front of Panera Bread and Harnwell College House, organizing Zoom events, and making sure Penn students are prepared to vote.
"On campus, we also are handing out Biden signs, and so many people are like, 'Oh my gosh! I've been looking for one. I can't wait to put this up in my window,'" she said. "Every single time it makes me so happy." Through her work with the Biden campaign, Tuch has introduced former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang at a small rally at Clark Park and attended President Barack Obama's “drive-in rally” outside Citizens Bank Park in South Philadelphia last week. Tuch said balancing campaign work with classwork is a difficulty worth taking on in order to help Pennsylvania turn blue next week — an event that could determine the outcome of this election. “At the end of the day, while [balancing the campaign with school] sucks, I’m like ‘leave it all on the table’ and not have regrets after the election’s over,” Tuch said. Another student working for the Biden campaign, College junior Rachel Zaff, is taking the semester off to work as a field organizer for the campaign in Palm Beach County, Florida. Zaff spends 70 hours each week coordinating a team of around 50 volunteers to run virtual phone bank hubs and urge voters in South Florida to head to the polls and vote for Biden. When Penn scratched its plans for a hybrid fall semester in August, Zaff decided to take a leave of absence and look for campaign jobs in lieu of completing her senior year virtually. “I knew on Election Day in 2016 when we heard afterward that Trump was elected that I would have to do something the next time around to make sure that he was a one-term president,” Zaff said. “This was really just an opportunity to take action and to try and influence the results of the next election in some way.” She believes she has already made a difference in the weeks leading up to the election, pointing to the fact that registered Democrats have cast far more ballots than registered Republicans in Florida. “We’re really doing all we can to flip Florida blue and so far we’ve been seeing good results,” Zaff said. “We’re hoping to just keep pushing that forward as we get closer to Election Day.” Other students who are not working directly for the Biden campaign are also finding ways to help ensure the 1968 Wharton graduate does not serve a second term in office. College sophomore Gianni Hill is the political coordinator for State Sen. Sharif Street, Vice-Chair of the Pennsylva-
nia Democratic Party and 1999 Penn Law graduate. Although Street does not work directly for the Biden campaign, Hill said the national campaign often requests assistance from the senator. Hill said he was involved with setting up local meetings, like Obama's visit to North Philadelphia to speak with Black leaders of the community before the drive-in rally last week. “[Street] does the work that the campaign needs them to do and by extension, I do all the work that needs to get done to make his help for the campaign successful,” Hill said. Hill, who spends about 60 to 70 hours a week working for the Senator, also balances a full course load at Penn. He works at Street's office in North Philadelphia from 9 a.m. to anytime from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m., arranging meetings and managing the Senator's schedule in between Zoom classes. Hill said his most exciting moment on the job was meeting Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) at the Philadelphia Democratic City Committee headquarters last month. He described the Democratic vice presidential nominee as gracious and generous with her time, greeting all the staff members and taking pictures with him and others in the office. Hill, Tuch, and Zaff all stressed the importance of their fellow Penn students voting in the upcoming election, whether they cast their ballots early or on Nov. 3. “This really is the election of our lifetimes and if we take action, if we turn out in huge numbers, we can make this impact and we can change the course of our country’s history," Zaff said.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF TUCH, HILL, AND ZAFF
From left to right: College senior Bayley Tuch, College sophomore Gianni Hill, and College junior Rachel Zaff.
Penn students step up to work the polls on Election Day Younger volunteers were needed to make up for a shortage of older poll workers due to COVID-19
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ELECTION GUIDE
CELIA KRETH Staff Reporter
Pennsylvania has been facing a massive shortage of poll workers, especially as older people – who usually make up two thirds of those working the polls across the country – are signing up less amid the dangers of the pandemic. But around Philadelphia, Penn students have expressed so much interest in working at the polls that the commonwealth has had to turn some volunteers away. College junior and President of Penn Democrats Owen Voutsinas-
Klose will be a poll worker this election day. While he does not have a specific schedule, he said he will be working at the Penn Alexander School in Philadelphia's 27th Ward before polls open at 7:00 a.m. and until they close at 8:00 p.m. Voutsinas-Klose will make sure voters are checked in, ensure that their names appear on the voter rolls, help voters use machines, and check that votes are counted accurately. He said he feels confident that the city will be vigilant in detecting and stopping voter intimidation. He is concerned, however, that some people who may want to vote might not have their names in the rolls due to clerical errors or having not registered in time.
“The last thing I want to see is someone who wants to vote and thinks that they’re eligible, and I have to tell them no," he said. College sophomore Caleb Schack had also planned on helping work the polls and organized a group of Penn students to work with him. But of the 12 people he gathered, he was not chosen to work the polls. “There’s a lot of interest in Penn students, but there are so many people that were interested that they actually turn people away," Voutsinas-Klose said. "But that’s a good problem to have.” Penn’s Office of Government and Community Affairs worked with the 27th ward leader Carol Jenkins, who is in charge of staffing the polling places, in order to help Penn students become poll
workers. Philadelphia runs on the ward system for election oversight. The city is divided into 1,692 precincts which are divided into 66 wards, and Penn is located in the 27th. Wards are represented by leaders, either Democrat or Republican, who were chosen by their respective parties’ committee people. These twelve students’ names, including Shack and VoutsinasKlose, were submitted to Jenkins and to Penn as part of the unofficial fraternity event run by Schack, so they did not submit the usual application. In order to be a poll worker, you must first fill out an interest form and wait for Philadelphia’s county election officer to get in contact with you and make sure
you meet a few basic requirements: That you are a resident of Pennsylvania, are not a government official or employee, will attend a mandatory training session, and are available to work on Election Day before polls open at 7:00 a.m. until after they close at 8:00 p.m. Selected applicants must also complete a mandatory training in the form of a recorded video to watch before Election Day. Workers are also paid $50 to complete the mandatory training requirement as well as $200 for their work on Election Day. “I’ve always wanted to be a poll worker. I think it’s such an important and overlooked job, especially in coronavirus times — most poll workers were over the age of 65,” Voutsinas-Klose said.
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Politicians and Penn community warn of voter disenfranchisement
Voting rights experts are concerned about efforts to supress Pennsylvania's voters of color this fall HADRIANA LOWENKRON Staff Reporter Against the backdrop of Pennsylvania's growing importance in determining next week's election, voting rights experts at Penn, Philadelphia politicians, and student political adPhiladelphia vocates are concerned about efforts to suppress the Councilvotes of Black, Latinx, immigrant, and working-class member communities. and 1993 President and 1968 Wharton graduate Donald College Trump has pulled out all the stops in an attempt to undergraduate mine the Nov. 3 election results. Philadelphia, where registered Helen Gym Democrats outnumber Republicans seven to one, appears to be his focal point. CHASE Trump urged his supporters to monitor the polls on Election Day SUTTON because he claimed at the first presidential debate that "bad things happen in Philadelphia." Days after the debate, the Trump administration sued the City of Philadelphia for preventing campaign representatives from watching people register or vote in satellite election offices. In the past month, he used an election worker's mistake discarding nine military ballots in Pennsylvania's Republican-controlled Luzerne County as fodder for his false claim that mail-in ballots are fraudulent. Pennsylvania Republicans filed a second lawsuit on Oct. 23 at the United States Supreme Court to overturn the state's mail ballot deadline extension, after being denied on Oct. 19. For Penn-affiliated politics aficionados, all of these tactics are today's manifestations of a country with a sordid history of voter disenfranchisement. "In just the last 20 years, from the Bush v. Gore decision, to Citizens United, to the gutting of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, to the refusal to enact common sense immigration reforms, we have seen a dramatic erosion of voting rights in the United States," Philadelphia Councilmember and 1993 College graduate Helen Gym wrote in an email to The Daily Pennsylvanian. "You don’t need to reach back into the 19th century to see Black, Brown, and immigrant voters being denied the right to vote. You can see it unfold before us. When a smaller and smaller electorate speaks for a nation largely disenfranchised, our politics will be at odds with politicians who struggle to meet this moment."
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ELECTION GUIDE
A HISTORY OF VOTER SUPPRESSION
Next Tuesday marks just the second presidential election since Shelby County v. Holder, a 2013 case where the Supreme Court struck down Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in a 5-4 decision. The ruling stated that states with deep-rooted histories of voting discrimination, like Alabama, South Carolina, and Texas, no longer needed the federal government to approve voting changes. The aftermath resulted in 14 states establishing new voting restrictions ahead of the 2016 election without federal government approval, ranging from laws that complicate voter registration and reduce early voting, to those that require forms of identification that millions of Americans — and disproportionately those of color — do not possess. In some states, such restrictions made it easier for one to buy a gun than vote. For historians and voting rights experts, the ruling marks a regression in the fight for civil rights, reminiscent of the post-Reconstruction era when the country's history of disenfranchising African Americans' right to vote began. While federal laws granted African Americans some civil rights during the Reconstruction era in the mid to late 1800s, the decline of the Southern economy and the newly Democrat-controlled Southern legislatures in the 1870s led to a rise in voter intimidation tactics designed to suppress Black voters — an era known as Jim Crow. Although Pennsylvania was not one of the states that implemented stricter voting laws in 2016, the commonwealth has its own complicated history with voting accessibility. Black civil rights activist Octavius Catto worked tirelessly to get Pennsylvania to ratify the 15th Amendment in the mid-19th century, according to Gideon Cohn-Postar, a postdoctoral fellow at Penn's Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy. Catto's statue at City Hall was the city's first to commemorate a person of African American descent. But the advancement and fight for civil rights coincided with increased voter intimi-
dation and violence perpetrated by Democrats who did not want African Americans to vote for Republicans. The tension culminated in the murder of 32-year-old Catto by a Democratic Party supporter on Oct. 10, 1871 — the first election day African Americans were allowed to vote. Only when Gov. Tom Wolf signed Pa. Act 77 of 2019 into law last October has there been a loosening of restrictive voting measures in Pennsylvania, Cohn-Postar said. The bill allowed registered Pennsylvania voters to cast their ballot from home and submit their ballot up until 8 p.m. on the day of the election. The law does not require voters to provide a justification for being unable to physically go to a polling center. "For most of the 20th and 21st century, Pennsylvanians had to vote on Election Day, and often that means having to take time off work, and that can disproportionately affect wage-working people, which are disproportionately people of color," Cohn-Postar said. "So the shift to allowing non-excuse absentee balloting recently is a big advance towards increasing African American access to the polls."
CONCERNS ABOUT THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN AND ITS THREAT TO DEMOCRACY
Cohn-Postar still expressed concerns about voter disenfranchisement in the upcoming election. His main worry is the impact of Trump's threats about the presence of poll watchers on voters, particularly voters of color. "Trump simply making the comment that people should go and watch the polls is inherently intimidation and could decrease people going to the polls," he said. "We don't know who these people Trump is calling are, how they will act, [or] what the police response will be if people attempt to intimidate or suppress voters. So it's on two levels: the rhetorical sonic which could suppress voters and then the real potential violence." Both Cohn-Postar and Penn Democrats Vice President and College sophomore Emilia Onuonga, who is a former DP staffer, said that Trump's efforts to undermine mail-in voting are dangerous to democracy. "I think that the current president is trying to undermine the legitimacy of the election," Onuonga said. "He is encouraging voter intimidation, which is voter suppression." For Penn Justice Democrats Co-leader and College junior Jack Cahill, voter suppression is especially pertinent in this election largely as a result of Trump's tactics to incite fear and distrust of the voting system among American voters. "We have an authoritarian president who it seems will not stop at anything to prevent minorities and other Democratic-affiliated groups from voting to ensure that he remains in power," he said. Cahill's fear stems from a recent article in The Atlantic, which reported the Trump campaign was making contingency plans to bypass election results by pressuring state legislators into choosing electors directly, if the vote count remains unclear by the "safe harbor" deadline of Dec. 8. Cahill called this potential move by the Trump administration "an end to democracy."
TODAY'S MANIFESTATIONS OF VOTER DISENFRANCHISEMENT, EXACERBATED BY COVID-19
Experts said one of the most prevalent examples of voter disenfranchisement is the fact that Election Day is not a federal holiday. "For many people, particularly if they're reliant on their work and are paid hourly wages and can't take the time off, voting on any Tuesday in November is difficult," said Michael Jones-Correa, the President’s Distinguished Professor of Political Science and director of Penn's Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity and Immigration. "It is particularly difficult with the pandemic, and minority and immigrant voters have been the hardest hit by the pandemic." He added that while Pennsylvania and other states have worked to make the voting process easier by implementing online registration in 2015 and adding satellite election offices for early voting, obstacles such as language barriers and lack of internet access serve as a form of disenfranchisement. For Penn Asian American Pacific Islander Politics director and College junior Amira Chowdhury, who is also a leader of Penn Justice Democrats, the language barrier to voting is personal. She detailed her role as her family's translator since they immigrated from Bangladesh. "Over the phone, I translated my dad's [and mom's] ballots as they filled it out, and I had to read it out line by line," she said. "The general election ballot did not come in
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Ukeomah clarified that although she believes nothing radical will come out of the presidential election even if Biden were to replace Trump in office, she still finds great importance in voting in the election, particularly on the local level. "You're not just voting for the president in these elections. You're voting for your local congresspeople, your state representatives, your councilmembers, and those largely impact your day-to-day life," she said. "The infrastructure of cities and funding for public schools are largely impacted by elected officials other than the federal government, and those are things we should be involved in too." Rick Krajewski, 2013 Engineering graduate and Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania's House District 188 representing West and Southwest Philadelphia, said that because Pennsylvania is a battleground state, every vote matters in the presidential election. He also urged voters to remember the importance of local elections. "There needs to be a clearer understanding of how our issues connect to local elections," he said. "It's up to us to start to do that kind of education so people know, and I think that's going to increase voter participation from the municipal level all the way up to the federal level." Krajewski said he feels confident in city leadership, and looks forward to working out the kinks in mail-in voting for future elections to enfranchise more communities. "I think we're trying our hardest to push back against voter suppression here in [Philadelphia]," Krajewski said. "This whole thing has been a learning process for us around voting by mail, around voting by mail in a pandemic, around early voting, and I just hope that we take this year as a big learning lesson and do it better next year, because I do believe if we do this all right, if it's implemented correctly, it can actually be a process that promotes democracy." For Gym and many other social justice advocates, the fight does not end next Tuesday. "Vote Nov. 3 and keep staying active," she wrote to the DP. "On Nov. 4, there is more than enough work for all of us to do. We’ve got a PHOTO FROM JASON LOZADO world to 2013 Engineering graduate and Democratic nominee build!" for Pennsylvania House District 188 Rick Krajewski
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020
Bengali. The general election ballot did not come in Arabic or Hindi or Farsi; and so there are just all of these different mechanisms that political leaders purposely make sure continue to perpetuate and maintain disenfranchisement to their political benefit." Pennsylvania has not been in the headlines to the extent of other states like Georgia with regard to overcrowded voting locations due to polling place closures and an influx of new voters since 2016. Political Science professor Marc Meredith noted, however, that both Philadelphia and Allegheny counties closed down many polling locations during the Pennsylvania primary to encourage more people to vote by mail because of the pandemic. A recent report by the Human Rights Watch found that in both Philadelphia and elsewhere in Pennsylvania, polling place consolidations likely kept many people, particularly people of color, from voting because of their preference to vote in person. Toorjo Ghose, a professor at the School of Social Policy & Practice, echoed Meredith's points, adding that systemic disenfranchisement especially targets people who are incarcerated and cannot vote in person. "All of the challenges to mailing in and having your vote count this year are really amplified to the one group that actually has only the mail-in ballot as their recourse to voting, and that's folks who are in prison," he said, noting that Philadelphia has the highest incarceration rate of metropolises in the country. "If you're in prison awaiting trial or on a misdemeanor, then you can't vote outside of mailing in your vote. And if you're going to have that challenge, then of course, that's a very systematic form of disenfranchisement, especially of African Americans, who are incarcerated at such high rates." Ghose also mentioned a less systematic form of disenfranchisement that he says is especially prevalent in this election: Providing Black and Latinx communities with presidential candidates that do not reflect their communities' best interests. "Sure you have the right to go to the polls to vote, but if you're not given the choice of [presidential candidate] that really is for your community, that is a form of systematically saying that really, your [votes] don't count," he said. "Your [votes] count only so far as: voting for the lesser of two evils is going to make us as middle class people happier." College senior and President of Penn's Black Student League Kristen Ukeomah cited the candidates' platforms and voting roadblocks as reasons she does not think it is fair to criticize Black people and other disenfranchised groups for not voting. "Rationally, it would make sense that if you don't vote in an election, or if you didn't try to make an impact or influence the way the election turned out, you can't be mad about how the election turned out," she said. "But I think it's ridiculous and unfair and I think deeply problematic that our candidates are advocating to dismantle a lot of basic human rights, and that people are being blamed for not going out to vote. We're not going to blame the individual for the fault of the system." She alluded to the younger Black electorate who, amid protests against police brutality and systemic racism, and the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, have lost faith in a system that has done little for the Black community.
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10 ELECTION GUIDE
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020
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Penn students flock to early voting at city-run offices During the first year any Pennsylvania voter can vote by mail, many Philadelphia residents and Penn students have already cast their ballots
JINTONG WU
ELIZABETH MEISENZAHL Staff Reporter With the expansion of early voting in Pennsylvania this year, many Philadelphia residents and Penn students have already cast their ballots and are encouraging others to do so weeks before Nov. 3. For College junior Jay Falk, making early voting easy and accessible for Penn and West Philadelphia students is vital to increasing youth voter turnout for this election. Falk ran a Bus2Vote event on Oct. 23 that brought eight Penn students, Philadelphia high school students, and other Philadelphia residents to one of 17 early voting locations at Overbrook Elementary School in West Philadelphia. Falk, who founded the High School Voter project through the Netter Center for Community Partnerships, received a $10,000 grant from the non-partisan organization When We All Vote to fund the Bus2Vote events. The High School Voter Project used the money to rent buses and purchase lunch for the voters they brought to Overbrook, she said. The bus made stops at 40th and Walnut streets for Penn students and 58th and Walnut streets for West Philadelphia high school students. The second and final Bus2Vote event will take place on Oct. 26. “What you're going to see in early voting states is that young people are coming out much more than they have in 2016, and the accessibility of absentee voting with no excuse is what makes that possible,” Falk said. In-person early voting began on Sept. 29 and will conclude on Oct. 27, coincid-
ing with the last day to request a mail-in ballot. The City of Philadelphia has two permanent elections offices — City Hall and Columbus Boulevard at Spring Garden Street — where residents can vote early in person. To make voting accessible during the COVID-19 pandemic, the city has opened 15 new satellite election offices throughout the city where residents can fill out and submit mail-in ballots. The satellite offices allow citizens voting with a mail-in ballot to avoid using the United States Postal Service, which has experienced significant delays due to the influx of voting by mail. 2020 is the first year any Pennsylvania voter can vote by mail. After Oct. 27, the satellite offices will only be open for people dropping off ballots. The offices are open seven days a week, 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday, and will operate through Election Day on Nov. 3. Similar to Falk, many other Penn students have taken advantage of Philadelphia’s early voting options. Students cited Penn’s decision not to cancel classes on Election Day and wanting to ensure their votes are cast as reasons for voting early. College sophomore Michelle Mahecha Perez, who hails from New York, said she was unable to register to vote in Pennsylvania online. She decided to register and vote at the City Hall elections office. Upon arriving at City Hall, however, she encountered a two-hour wait time and decided to vote at Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, one of the satellite elections offices. There, Mahecha was able to confirm her registration, fill out her ballot, place it in the secrecy envelope, and deposit her ballot. Although the city originally planned to open all 17 early voting locations by Sept. 29, only seven opened due to staffing shortages. The city has continued to roll out the opening of
offices throughout early voting, with the last locations opening on Oct. 19 — approximately one week before early voting concludes. Mahecha said she decided to vote early as Penn decided it would not give students and faculty the day off to vote on Election Day. She said she did not want to wait until Nov. 3 and potentially not have time to vote. “I think that this election is too important to run the risk of your vote not being counted and not being able to vote,” Mahecha said. “You have to look at this election not like Election Day is the only day, but rather that’s the day that voting ends.” Penn has consistently cited Pennsylvania state regulations as the main factor preventing it from canceling classes on Nov. 3. When College junior Jaden Cloobeck originally requested his Pennsylvania mail-in ballot, he was still living in his home state of California. Mid-semester, however, he decided to return to Philadelphia, and had his family mail him his ballot when it arrived at his home in California. Cloobeck used the City Hall elections office to directly deposit his ballot in person on Oct. 15. He noted that there was a long line for people looking to receive and fill out a ballot but almost no line to drop off his filled-out ballot. "It was just a marvelous experience to see how many people were waiting in line to vote early on a Thursday morning," he said.
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How do I vote and return my mail-in or absentee ballot?
Your vote is a key part of the county's democracy. It can help shape policy and government to reflect America’s diverse population. Your vote is especially important in Pennsylvania as it is a swing commonwealth — or, a commonwealth where the number of Democratic and Republican voters fluctuate — one of the most important in deciding the winner of the election. Pennsylvania is by far the likeliest area in the country to provide either President and 1968 Wharton Graduate Donald Trump or former Vice President Joe Biden with a decisive vote in the Electoral College, FiveThirtyEight reported, as it has a 31% chance of being the tippingpoint state with its 20 electoral votes. In 2016, Trump won Pennsylvania by about 1%. The deadline to register to vote in Pennsylvania has passed. You can check your voter registration status at the Pennsylvania voter services website by entering one of three items: Your name, driver’s license number, or PennDOT ID.
A P P L I C AT I O N D E A D L I N E
OCT. 27, 2020 BY 5 P.M.
When are polling locations open? Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 3. You may stand in line before 7 a.m., which many voters do in order to cast an early vote, but you will be allowed to vote as long as you are in line by 8 p.m. The busiest hours of the day to vote are in the morning and evening, according to Pennsylvania's voter website.
Where can I vote? Philadelphia has 17 satellite election offices, and the city has 718 in-person polling locations which you can find here. Penn has two polling locations for on-campus residents at Houston Hall and the ARCH building.
How can I volunteer on Election Day? To be a paid poll worker, you can complete this online form and the Department of State will let your county elections office know that you're interested in the job. You can also contact your county election office directly, but that process may take longer.
How will mail ballots be counted? In Pennsylvania, mail ballots will not be opened and processed until after 7 a.m. on Election Day.
How can I vote early? You can go to an elections office and request a mail ballot application, have your application processed and receive a ballot, fill it out, and return the ballot there in one trip. The last day to participate in all-in-one early in-person voting is Oct. 27.
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WHAT IS A MAIL-IN OR ABSENTEE BALLOT?
In Pennsylvania, there are two options for sending in your ballot by mail in advance: absentee and mail-in. Although different in name, absentee ballots and mail-in ballots serve essentially the same purpose, are counted by county officials in the same manner, and appear almost identical in format. Absentee ballots require the voter to list a reason they cannot vote in person — such as traveling out of state during the election, or having an illness or physical disability. Mail-in ballots, however, which are new in Pennsylvania this year, allow registered voters to cast their ballots remotely without providing a reason they cannot come to the polls in person.
Under Pennsylvania law, voters must return their own ballots. Voters with a disability may designate someone else in writing to deliver their ballot. Because mail delivery times may be uncertain and unpredictable, it is recommended to request and return your ballots as soon as possible. Step 1: Carefully read the instructions on your ballot and mark it. Make sure you complete the front and back of each page. Step 2: In order for your ballot to be counted, you must seal your ballot in the white inner secrecy envelope. Step 3: Lastly, you must seal the inner secrecy envelope in the pre-addressed outer return envelope. Then complete, sign, and date the voter’s declaration on the outside of the outer return envelope. Step 4: As soon as you can, return your completed ballot to the county board of elections either by mail or in person. If you mail your ballot, your ballot return envelope must be postmarked by 8 p.m. on Nov. 3 and received through USPS by 5 p.m. on Nov. 6. You can also hand deliver your ballot to your county elections office, to another official satellite county election office, or to a dropbox for mail ballots.
MAIL-IN & ABSENTEE BALLOT
Although processes differ slightly by county, you can most likely visit your local polling place to vote on Election Day. Once there, you should check in with a poll worker who will sign you into a poll book, and then you can vote on a voting machine.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020
10 ELECTION GUIDE
How do I vote in person?
You must apply for a mail-in or absentee ballot by 5 p.m. on Oct. 27, 2020. All request forms must be received by your county election board or other designated location. There are three options to request a mail-in or absentee ballot: 1) Apply for a mail-in ballot online at VotesPA.com/ApplyMailBallot. 2) Apply for a mail-in ballot by mail: Download and complete a paper mail-in or absentee ballot application and then send your application to the county election office. The deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot is Oct. 27 (one week before the election). 3) Fill out a mail ballot application in person at your county elections office or other designated location, and you can receive a ballot on the spot.
Why should I vote?
The polling locations for on-campus residents at Penn and those who live in Woodland Terrace neighborhood
The president is the head of the United States government, and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. The Republican incumbent, President Donald Trump, is running for a second, four-year term with Vice President Mike Pence. Former Vice President and Democratic nominee Joe Biden is running against him with vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.). Third party candidates, Libertarian nominee Jo Jorgensen and Green Party nominee Howie Hawkins, are also on the ballot.
How do I request a mail-in or absentee ballot?
H E R E' S H OW TO C A S T YO U R B A L LOT.
Illustrations by Isabel Liang
You can continue to drop off your mail-in ballot in person until Election Day, as long you’ve applied for it before Oct. 27.
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Looking to vote in Philadelphia?
Nervous about voting during the pandemic in the battleground Commonwealth of Pennsylvania? Don't be. Here's your guide to voting in the 2020 general election in Philadelphia.
Who's on your ballot for United States President?
Opinion
THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN | THEDP.COM TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020
14 ELECTION GUIDE
Editorial
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BALLOT QUESTIONS
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ext Tuesday, Philadelphians, including Penn students, will be faced with a number of choices on the ballot. While much attention has been paid to the presidential race, far less heralded are local issues, including four ballot questions. The Daily Pennsylvanian Editorial Board recommends handling the questions as follows: Question 1: Shall The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to call on the Police Department to eliminate the practice of unconstitutional stop and frisk, consistent with judicial precedent, meaning an officer must have reasonable suspicion that a person is engaged in criminal activity in order to stop that person, and, therefore, an officer cannot stop someone unlawfully because of their race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religious affiliation or expression, or other protected characteristic? Stop and frisk is a police practice where an officer may, with reasonable suspicion, stop someone on the street and question them, and may search their person for weapons, drugs, or other items of interest. The practice has
BRIANNA FISHER
consistently come under fire for being a form of racial profiling, considering that the citizens who are stopped and frisked by the police tend to be Black and Latinx men, even though their white male counterparts are far more likely to be carrying a firearm. Many courts have found the practice to be unconstitutional, especially since citizens could be stopped for something as minor as ‘furtive movements’. Despite all this, the Philadelphia police have continued to use the practice. By voting ‘yes’ on this question, voters can make sure that there is no mistaking what the public’s view on this practice is, and allows Philadelphians to condemn police violence enacted against Black men and other people of color. Vote YES on question 1. Question 2: Shall The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to create the Office of the Victim Advocate to advocate for crime victims and to work with victim-services providers to coordinate, plan, train, educate, and investigate issues relating to crime victims? The second ballot question concerns the establishment
of an Office of the Victim Advocate. If this measure is passed, the mayor will appoint a “Victim Advocate” to head the office, with responsibilities including advocating for crime victims, supporting agencies that serve or interact with crime victims, and ensuring that victims know their rights. While victims services are already offered through a statewide office and local organizations, the new office would make them available in a centralized manner. The progressive group Reclaim Philadelphia has criticized this ballot measure out of concern that it will lead to increased targeting and incarceration of poor, Black, and Latinx communities. In a blog post, Reclaim Philadelphia’s Mass Liberation Task Force wrote that the existing statewide Office of the Victim Advocate has opposed bills that grant parole eligibility to those with life sentences and promoted harsher sentencing laws. “[We] have good reason to fear that any policy recommendations coming from the OVA will only perpetuate the criminalization of poor, Black, and Latinx communities and mass incarceration as a re-
sponse to violence and harm,” Reclaim Philadelphia wrote. Vote NO on question 2. Question 3: Shall The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to provide for the creation of a Citizens Police Oversight Commission, and to authorize City Council to determine the composition, powers and duties of the Commission? This past summer has seen protests against police brutality and racism throughout the country, with protests in Philadelphia occasionally being met with excessive responses by law enforcement. In light of this, Question 3 seeks to establish a new Citizens Police Oversight Commission, replacing the existing mechanism for police oversight, the Police Advisory Commission. The Police Advisory Commission has faced criticism in the past for lacking power and being hamstrung by low budgets. If Question 3 is passed and the Citizens Police Oversight Commission is formed, the City Council would be responsible for determining the scope and the powers of it. The measure has the support of the Mayor, the vast majority of City Council, and the Dis-
trict Attorney. Vote YES on question 3. Question 4: Should the City of Philadelphia borrow ONE HUNDRED THIRTY FOUR MILLION DOLLARS ($134,000,000.00) to be spent for and toward capital purposes as follows: Transit; Streets and Sanitation; Municipal Buildings; Parks, Recreation and Museums; and Economic and Community Development? Philadelphia has come under hard times lately, with the city being forced to cut almost $650 million from its fiscal year 2021 budget. That being said, the money that the city would be borrowing is a small portion of the city's overall budget, and would be going to critical local services. As the Philadelphia Inquirer notes, Question 4 is required for the city of Philadelphia to borrow money. Vote YES on question 4. Editorials represent the majority view of members of The Daily Pennsylvanian, Inc. Editorial Board, which meets regularly to discuss issues relevant to Penn's campus. Participants in these meetings are not involved in the reporting of articles on related topics.
port. In his first term, Trump has done everything in his power to destroy America’s standing as a leader in science. He has appointed multiple people to government agencies who directly oppose those agencies’ missions, such as the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy. In addition, in each of the past four years, Trump has proposed funding cuts to almost every government basic research agency. Cutting science funding is one of the easiest actions Washington can take; it often has no immediate negative consequences. However, many recent cases have shown the importance of consistent government funding in science both at home and globally. Cuts in funding to Fermilab gave the Swiss at CERN the glory of discovering the Higgs boson, when it should have been the United States Trump completely cut the pandemic early response program just three months before COVID-19 broke out in Wu-
han, something that obviously would have come in handy during the current pandemic. And if a Baylor University research team received the funding they were begging Congress for, we might have had a coronavirus vaccine years ago. There are just a few of the many scientific advancements that could have occurred if the funding was there. Unlike Trump, Biden supports funding for both basic and translational science research, and historically, he has backed it up. Biden led the Cancer Moonshot task force as Vice President, an initiative focused on an organized approach at ending cancer. He plans to invest $300 billion in technology and research and development, and $400 billion over the next ten years in clean energy research. International STEM students will also benefit, with Biden vowing to exempt international Ph.D. graduates from any visa caps.
Biden’s trust in science will certainly have an immediate impact on the county's response to COVID-19 and climate change, but equally as impor-
ISABELLA COSSU
tant, Biden will start to rebuild the United States' passion and determination for scientific innovation. And to Penn STEM students and faculty: who knows, maybe funding for a future research proposal of yours could be affected by the results of this election. MATTHEW LIU is a College first-year student studying biochemistry.
VOTE
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020
ever, there is a stark contrast on one important issue: science. For anyone with a rudimentary understanding of science, it is quite obvious how Biden outclasses Trump in his understanding and concern towards COVID-19 and climate change. With regards to COVID-19, he would enforce mask-wearing policies and proceed with more caution regarding reopenings. Additionally, Biden’s climate change proposals will have the United States rejoin the Paris Climate Accord, push for 100% clean energy by 2050, and provide jobs for working Americans in the process. These two policy differences alone are reason enough for why many nontraditional Democratic voters are backing Biden. However, there is a more unsung way that Biden’s trust in science will have a paramount impact on American health, standard of living, and standing in the world, and it is something that every member of the Penn STEM community should sup-
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T
here are three certainties in life: death, taxes, and college kids finding reasons not to vote. Aside from the utter inconvenience it is to vote in the United States in a normal year, let alone in a pandemic, young people have also been fed up with the two-party system consistently spewing out candidates who on the surface may contrast and spar, but fundamentally still carry out ineffective politics. This year, to many young people, it appears to be more of the same. Although Biden and Trump are constantly at odds, with both launching direct verbal attacks frequently, it is clear that neither candidate has any radically different plans for issues like the wealth gap, healthcare, the lagging education system, over-policing, and crumbling infrastructure. With there being very little fundamental difference in these two candidates' stances, it is perfectly understandable that at first glance, so many young people see no real reason to vote. How-
Opinion
WHY STEM STUDENTS SHOULD VOTE BIDEN
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WHY WE VOTE
Guest Column by Penn Leads the Vote Leadership
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he day is finally here. The 2020 presidential election saw candidates announcing their candidacy as early as 2017, and its culmination is now arriving. As we enter Election Day, many may still be wondering why it’s important that they cast their ballot. It may seem like one vote doesn’t matter among the tens of millions that will be cast across the country, but it does. From a tied 2017 Virginia House of Delegates race that was decided by drawing a name out of a bowl to the 2000 presidential election in Florida being decided by just 537 votes, do not discount the importance of casting your ballot. Penn students must vote. In college, we learn the skills required to navigate adulthood. Voting is one of those skills, and building a pattern of civic engagement begins now. This election allows those voting for the first time to create good voting habits that will last a lifetime, while those who have
on that opportunity. Although we recognize that not everyone is living in Philadelphia this semester, those who are eligible to vote in Pennsylvania have the opportunity to vote in a state that was decided by less than 1% in the 2016 presidential election. 2020 is best known as a presidential election year, but there are also numerous other races on the ballot of equal importance. From ballot propositions to statewide offices to members of Congress and local officials, there are so many different races on which you can have an impact by casting your vote. Even though the presidential race receives more attention, your local elected officials have a greater effect on your community. Elections for local positions also have fewer voters, making your voice more impactful. Make sure to educate yourself on all races and propositions on your ballot and look up your sample ballot here. Twenty states allow voters to register and vote all at
DON'T CAST A PROTEST VOTE “I
just can’t vote for either candidate.” From a TikTok trend of tearfully writing in candidates onto ballots to angry tweets from people refusing to vote this year, it is clear that this upcoming election presents an unpleasant dilemma for many voters. But trying to take the high road or deliver a message by boycotting the election is far from the right answer.
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voted in the past have the opportunity to strengthen these habits. Voting is just one step in becoming engaged with your community, but it is a crucial and necessary one that Penn students must take. It is of critical importance that young people vote. Election after election, young people turn out at lower rates than their older counterparts. This presents a major problem for representative democracy. Elected officials are supposed to represent everyone, but they are only truly accountable to those that vote. When younger people vote at lower rates, politicians don’t have to pay as much attention to the needs of young people, and thus give up their voice in government. Being in the swing state of Pennsylvania only strengthens the importance of the youth vote. Pennsylvania youth voters also have the fourth highest impact of any state’s youth voters on the presidential election, and Penn students must capitalize
ISABELLA COSSU
First off, boycotting an election as a form of protest against the system is only effective where the voter turnout rate is
high or where voting is mandatory. In the United States, where the voter turnout rate is regularly lower than 50%, this form of activism becomes lost in translation and is rendered insignificant. The ethical issues are a bit trickier to dissect. I’m not here to shame anyone for making their own choices or ask anyone to break their own moral codes, but simply to ask everyone to consider the broader, long-lasting impacts of those choices. This article on Medium put it best by saying: “your conscience is what keeps you from doing things that feel good to you but hurt other people.” The people that keep preaching how neither candidate is “morally good” enough for them to vote for fall somewhere on the spectrum of being naive or privileged. If you think that your life can continue as is no matter which candidate wins, you are a very small, for-
tunate percentage of the population. Just know that the absence of your vote harms anyone in your life who is a woman, part of the LGBTQ+ community, an immigrant, disabled, or depends on the Affordable Care Act — just to name a few. Now let’s talk more specifically about this election. Yes, both candidates are very far from perfect, but on nearly every critique from racism to sexism, the degree to which each candidate has committed offenses is incomparable. While even one sexual harassment or assault accusation is not something to be excused, a running record of over 25 different testimonials and a consistently unapologetic, vulgar persona is significantly more atrocious. I’m not going to continue pushing the ‘lesser of two evils’ narrative because while it is certainly true, it’s not a convincing argument why someone should vote this year. Without telling
once on Election Day, so if you live in one of those states and haven’t yet registered to vote, there’s still time. If you missed the voter registration deadline in your state or are an international student, remind as many people as possible to vote. Students voting in Pennsylvania who have already requested a mail-in ballot still have time to turn theirs in, but it must be postmarked by Nov. 3. Students currently in Philadelphia who are voting in person can check their polling place by clicking here. If you have any questions, please visit our website or email us at pennvotes@upenn.edu. You have the opportunity to make an impact on your community and your country. An election is a collection of voices
you who to vote for, I will just present a few basic facts. One of the candidates has made nearly 20,000 false or misleading statements within his first term as President. One of these candidates has reversed 100 environmental policies, throwing science and our future down the drain. One of these candidates separated over 5,000 children from parents and left them in inhuman conditions alone. Now, let’s look at the other candidate. The other candidate is committed to protecting Roe vww. Wade, closing the wage gap, and increasing support for victims of sexual assault. This candidate has tangible, long-term plans to combat climate change, reduce carbon emissions, and invest $2 trillion into green initiatives. Perhaps most significantly, this candidate would “bring back civility” and work towards reuniting a country that is more partisanlydivided than ever.
SUKHMANI KAUR
coming together to make decisions about the future. Your vote counts just as much as anyone else’s, and the only time your voice is not equal to others is when you don’t let it be heard. That’s why we vote. HARRISON FEINMAN is a College junior studying Political Science. He is the co-director of Penn Leads the Vote. EVA GONZALEZ is a College junior studying Political Science. She is the co-director of Penn Leads the Vote.
Let’s also briefly address third party voting. The conversation about America needing a third political party is definitely one to be had, but if there ever was a year to put that idea on hold, it would be this year. This is a pivotal year where millions of citizens’ basic human rights and the future of our planet are being threatened. In 2016, the 6% of people that voted third party helped Trump win the electoral college. We cannot make that same mistake this year. By no means am I one to tell you not to follow your moral values, but just understand the repercussions of your actions: if not for yourself, then for your friends, family, and the future of our country. VALERIE WANG is a Wharton first-year student studying Management and Business Analytics. Her email address is valwang@ wharton.upenn.edu
Guest Column by Justin Greenman
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020
ISABEL LIANG
be this way. We all come to this political moment with our own political views, and members of our club come to GPA with our own too. I am proud to be a registered Republican leading a club filled with progressives, liberals, conservatives, libertarians, and everywhere in between; I am leading a club with members of both major parties, minor parties, and independents. We don’t suppress our views when we meet, whether in our informal weekly discussions now over Zoom, in our debates with students or political leaders on critical issues of the day, or in our nonpartisan magazine. We don’t hide where we disagree with each other. Rather, we come together knowing that there will be areas
of agreement and disagreement and that it is our responsibility to learn, listen, respond civilly, and grow as political participants. That has allowed us to partner with Penn Democrats, College Republicans, and other political groups for events, whether or not they are partisan or ideological. It has allowed us to go down to Washington D.C. and lobby members of Congress, not as partisans, but as Penn students united on a bipartisan issue. Most importantly, this has allowed us to become more informed about the opinions that define U.S. politics. We’re not asking you to hide your principles going into Election Day or going forward; we’re asking you to be open to listening to and associating with those
you disagree with. I am proud to say that some of my closest friends are people I vehemently disagree with on many political issues. We may not change each other’s minds, but I truly believe I have grown from listening to perspectives and views I would not have otherwise heard, and I think anyone in GPA would share the same sentiment. This is not a pitch to join our club and come to our events (though if you want to, feel free to check out our Facebook). Rather, this is a pitch to be open to what you may not like to hear and what you may not believe. That means, going into Election Day, truly listening to the other side, maybe by watching an interview with a candidate you had not considered voting
for or asking honest questions about your own political beliefs. That means, after Election Day, thinking of some areas of agreement you share with the other side, areas where we all can work together come Jan. 20, 2021 and beyond. That means not seeing those on the other side as enemies, for we all have enough of those, but rather seeing them as potential partners and friends. This is a pitch, win or lose Nov. 3, to have an open dialogue with each other at GPA events, at Penn, with family and friends, and beyond. JUSTIN GREENMAN is a College senior and the President of the Penn Government and Politics Association.
ELECTION GUIDE 1 7
t is no secret that the 2020 presidential election has been one of, if not the most divisive elections in American history. Occurring in the context of a global pandemic and during a time of great domestic and international socioeconomic unrest, it is expected that about half of America will be happy by the outcome, or at least happy that the alternative did not win, and about half of America is going to be unhappy. What many are likely to agree on, according to a recent survey, is that after this election, win or lose, anger is the way to be and that violence is therefore justified. A YouGov poll of 1,505 voters recently found that 56% said they expect to see "an increase in violence as a result of the election." This disturbing statistic should leave us as college students, voters, and participants in the American political process worried about the future of this country and its politics. We at the Penn Government & Politics Association, Penn’s largest nonpartisan student club, are also worried. We fear that this climate of hate and intolerance towards those of differing viewpoints will only get worse, and that politically engaged students often do little to stop it. Since our founding in 2013, we have sought to be a place on Penn’s campus where students, professors, leaders, and community members could come together to discuss the top political issues of the day and do so civilly and openly. No matter how many events we hold and new members we enjoy, however, there is still more that students can do to bring civility and political openness back into politics. It is all too easy today to live in a world of constant validation. We scroll through Facebook, seeing posts we almost always agree on. We attend rallies and political events featuring speakers we support. We cancel people we disagree with, unfriending them and not associating with them. In fact, according to Pew only one in 10 Americans can even say they have a lot of friends with different political opinions. It does not have to be this way, and indeed, should not
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Opinion
NO MATTER WHO WINS, OPEN DIALOGUE MUST TRIUMPH
Opinion
THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN | THEDP.COM
THE CASE FOR BIDEN
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020
Guest Column by Francois Barrilleaux
SUKHMANI KAUR
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e are losing. More than 220,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, making the United States one of the hardest-hit countries in the world. This winter, thousands more will perish. Racial disparities have been brought to the forefront of national attention, but in the form of horrific police violence and a president that can’t even condemn white supremacy. And as the climate crisis continues to worsen, the Republican Party continues to debate whether climate change even exists. It is clear we are losing. But we have not yet lost. As college students in the most important state in the country, we have the opportunity to turn things around by electing Joe Biden to be the next president of the United States. Rather than read off Trump’s disgusting tweets to
you, I think it would be a better use of our time to explore how the world might differ depending on the outcome of this generation-defining election. Let’s say on Jan. 20, 2021, Joe Biden is sworn in as president. As president, Biden passes a sweeping stimulus bill that puts money in your pocket, saves the café down the road, and reduces the risk of budget cuts to West Philadelphia public schools. Biden creates a national COVID-19 testing strategy, uses his office to advocate for mask-wearing, and helps roll out a safe and effective vaccine in an orderly manner. You can now choose an affordable public option for healthcare no matter where you are. And you can stay on your parents’ health insurance until you’re 26. Your friend from high school who took on crushing student loans has had their federal student
loan debt wiped clean. And in 2050, when our economy is entirely powered by clean energy that has created millions of well-paying jobs, you can show your children the forests and oceans and biodiversity of our beautiful planet that you helped preserve. But let’s say Trump wins. COVID-19 continues to spread and a lack of planning and effective public health messaging on the federal level causes hundreds of thousands more to die, including someone with whom you are close. A vaccine is doled out in a partisan and haphazard manner, leading to confusion and further delays in returning to normal life. Rather than stay on the margins of society, white nationalism is further emboldened and hate crimes spike. And in 2050, the Schuylkill river trail and lowlying areas of Philadelphia
now regularly flood. By the end of the century, the average day in Philadelphia is seven degrees hotter and millions have died around the world from climate change-induced catastrophes. Obviously, this is all speculation, but it is plausible, and frighteningly likely if our country heads down this dark path. In 2016, Donald Trump won Pennsylvania by around 44,000 votes. That’s roughly the size of Temple’s student body. And right now Pennsylvania is the most likely tipping point state in the entire country, which means that it is the most likely state to decide the 2020 election. All of that to say — what you do matters. You get to decide which version of the future we will live in. So please, please make a plan to vote on Nov. 3. Go to iwillvote.com/pa to get all the information you need. Text
three friends right now — yes right now, in the middle of this sentence — and make sure they are voting for Biden. And even if you have just an hour of free time, reach out to me at legislative@penndems. org and I will find a way to get you in this fight. I’ll be honest. Joe Biden can’t solve all of our problems, and for many of us, including myself, he wasn’t our first choice for president. But electing Joe Biden is absolutely necessary if we are going to make any sort of progress. Because if Trump has taught us anything constructive, it is that our lives and our society are not guaranteed to get better. We need to make that change. And we need to make it now. FR ANCOIS BARRIL LEAUX is a College junior. He is the Legislative Director of Penn Democrats.
O
ers, and confused all. However, I would argue that scrutinizing whether or not Joe Biden truly supports fracking is irrelevant. Whether Vice President Biden supports it or not, fracking will remain a staple of America’s energy economy over the next decade, and it would be more productive for all of us to discuss the ways in which we can safely and responsibly transition away from fracking while protecting our energy and economic health. Having nuanced discussion is especially difficult when the President of the United States and his party is committed to confusing the role of science in society and actively impeding evidence-based legislation. But as students at Penn invested in the future of our country, we can begin by having those discussions on our own. Last week, Caroline Magdolen discussed the importance of reaching out to those we don’t necessarily agree with in a brilliant op-ed, but I suggest taking it a step further and only discussing the pros and cons of particular policy
decisions. You may find that discussing the Affordable Care Act in objective, clinical terms without references to politics or party will spark a refreshing and fruitful debate. I think back to my day at the March for Our Lives and the hope I felt. For me, the past two years (and especially the past several months) haven't been quite as hopeful, but I feel that optimism coming back, despite the circumstances. I’ve shifted my perspective away from the immediate future and instead invested myself in the long-term, confident that with time we’ll be able to talk about what actually matters. That certainly won’t happen within the next year or even within the next four years, but that time will come. For now, the best we can do is have those conversations on our own. VARUN SARASWATHULA is a College junior studying Neuroscience and Healthcare Management. His email is vsaras@sas.upenn.edu.
CLINTON COULDN'T HAVE SAID 'WILL YOU SHUT UP, MAN' I
ranted, would have looked unpresidential, a dangerous thing to be when one is already battling institutionalized sexism in politics and power. Women have made great strides in the last century, but what is done on paper does not always correlate to an equal change in American attitudes. Men in politics, both Democratic and Republican, can simply escape repercussions for actions or words that women in politics would be “canceled” for doing or saying. The 2020 election, with its two old, white, and male candidates, has been a prime example of this double standard. People, for example, are willing to accept male candidates with morally questionable records on sexual misconduct. Trump has 26 allegations of sexual misconduct against him and Biden has eight allegations of sexually inappropri-
ate behavior. Meanwhile, in 2016, Trump deflected questions about his disparaging and offensive comments about women by shifting attention to Bill Clinton’s extramarital affairs and inappropriate conduct. The public is eager to associate Hillary with her husband’s misconduct, tearing her down. Why should a woman pay for a man’s mistakes? If Melania Trump or Jill Biden were accused of sexual misconduct would we be asking Trump and Biden to answer for them? Would it make us question their ability to govern? American society instead treats men differently, encouraging us to tear down women for a man’s actions, while overlooking misconduct in men. After all, regardless of who they cast their ballot for, most Americans are willing to overlook allegations of sexual assault in this election.
The standards male politicians and candidates are held to are, therefore, radically different from those women face in politics, well exemplified by this election. Biden and Trump are on an even playing ground in a variety of respects. Neither has to worry about coming off as “bossy,” “nasty,” or “emotional,” words employed to describe female politicians. Instead they enjoy free rhetorical rein, able to say more without fear of looking unpresidential, and have lower standards for decency. Put simply, they can get away with more. The fictional character of Leslie Knope from Parks and Recreation summed it up best when realizing she could not be fired from her job, giving her free rein to do whatever
she liked: “There are no consequences to my actions anymore. No matter what I do lit-
ISABEL LIANG
erally nothing bad can happen to me. I’m like a white male U.S. senator.” ISABELLA GLASSMAN is a College sophomore studying Philosophy, Politics, & Economics.
ELECTION GUIDE 1 9
t’s 2016. You flip the channel to the debate, thinking that no election could be more contentious than this one. As the debate begins so do the candidates' interruptions. As Donald Trump interrupts Hillary Clinton, claiming he never called climate change a hoax or perpetrated by the Chinese, Clinton turns her head and with an exasperated look blurts out “Will you shut up, man?” Of course that never happened, nor could it happen. While Joe Biden is touting his quip against Trump with apparel, Clinton in a simple reply to a tweet expressed what so many American women know; she could never have said that. Women in politics deal with prejudices and standards that men can transcend. A female candidate telling a male candidate to shut up on national television, even if it was war-
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020
ne of the most inspiring moments of my life was being in Washington D.C. on March 24, 2018, the day of the March for Our Lives. On Valentine’s Day of the same year, seventeen students and faculty were killed by a gunman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and the resulting grief created, what was at the time, one of the largest demonstrations in recent history against gun violence. I remember being surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people who cared deeply about the wellbeing of Americans,
ter, and the cycle morphed into featuring easily consumable content that favors soundbites and moments over substantive discussion. Politicians are incentivized to partake in “epic takedowns” of their opponents rather than intelligently discuss the nuances of the legislation they intend to pass. This has created an environment where politics has become more of a sport with a deep rivalry than a means of thinking about innovative ways to improve American society. The way politics is presented, everything seems zero-sum: if Democrats win, it means Republicans lose, and vice versa. In reality, politics ought to be about working together towards improving the lives of everybody, and this is done through the hard, tiring work of policymaking. Discussions of policy are often boiled down to meaningless pledges instead of actual plans. Recently, Joe Biden has gotten in hot water over his rhetoric surrounding his support of fracking, which has angered some, relieved oth-
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KYLIE COOPER
and in that moment, I was filled with a sense of hope. For someone who grew up in a generation molded by the underlying fear of being caught in mass shooting, that hope felt real, and meaningful change felt like it was just across the horizon. In the two and a half years since the March for Our Lives, however, there has been little — if any — meaningful gun legislation aimed at lowering violence. All of the energy and hope that I shared that day never really materialized. One thing that American politics has never been short of is passion. In the past couple decades, that passion has been fueled by the development of the 24-hour news cycle, which offers Americans an unceasing stream of content. Over the past several years, the news cycle shifted from television to Twit-
Opinion
POLICY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN POLITICS
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Politicians in Philadelphia
SINCE 2018
P H OTO ES SAY BY SU K HM A N I K AU R & C H AS E SU T TO N
chase sutton
Democratic vice presidential nominee and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) campaigned in Philadelphia on Sept. 17, 2020. Harris’s last stop of the day was at the Biden campaign headquarters near City Hall where she attended a virtual fundraiser. chase sutton
President Donald Trump spoke about the state of the U.S. economy at the National Electrical Contractors Association's annual convention at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Oct. 2, 2018.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020
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Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney spoke about the city’s immigration policies at a packed Perry World House event on Nov. 15, 2018.
As a historic 2020 Election Day approaches, The Daily Pennsylvanian looks back on ten major U.S. politicians that have visited Penn’s campus and Philadelphia since 2018. kylie cooper
Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg held a campaign event at the National Constitution Center on Feb. 5, 2020.
sukhmani kaur chase sutton
Former Vice President and Penn Presidential Professor of Practice Joe Biden came to Philadelphia to deliver remarks at the National Constitution Center on Mar. 10, 2020 after winning several primaries on Super Tuesday, becoming the clear front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang rallied a small group of Penn students in Clark Park to encourage early voting for Joe Biden on Oct. 18, 2020.
tamara wurman
son nguyen
alec druggan
2006 College graduate and 2009 Penn Law graduate Congressman Conor Lamb (D-Pa.) indicated Joe Biden as his initial favorite to win his endorsement in the 2020 presidential race at an event hosted by Penn Democrats on Mar. 21, 2019.
Former President Barack Obama came to Philadelphia to urge students and local residents to vote for Democrats in the midterm elections on Sept. 21, 2018. Two years later, Obama returned to campaign for Joe Biden on Oct. 21, 2020 to increase turnout for Biden.
Former Democratic presidential candidate and billionaire financier Tom Steyer discussed climate change, economic fairness, and immigration at a Penn Democrats event on Oct. 18, 2019.
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Former Florida governor and Penn Presidential Professor of Practice Jeb Bush spoke about the role of private industries and climate change during Perry World House's Global Shifts Colloquium on Apr. 16, 2019.
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to our weekly newsletters Stay plugged into Penn with this daily newsletter rounding up all of the top headlines from top headlines from the DP, 34th Street, and Under the Button.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020
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A LOOK BACK
AT JOE BIDEN'S DAYS AS AN ATHLETE
Biden was a standout receiver in high school BY L O C H L A H N M A R C H
Photo by Gage Skidmore | CC BY-SA 2.0
22 ELECTION GUIDE
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020
Y
ou’d think the nickname "Dash" refers to the fastest person on the football field. According to his teammates, former Penn professor and 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden was pretty quick. But in his case, the childhood nickname was one of several that had nothing to do with his athletic ability. Instead, it mocked the "dashes" that the former vice president unintentionally inserted between certain syllables while speaking aloud. It mocked his stutter. Biden is an alumnus of Archmere Academy, a prep school in Claymont, Del. It was there he first gained the nickname, but it was also there that he built his confidence on the field and ultimately overcame his impediment. “As much as I lacked confidence in my ability to communicate verbally, I always had confidence in my athletic ability,” Biden wrote in his memoir, "Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics." “Sports were as natural to me as speaking was unnatural. And sports turned out to be my ticket to acceptance — and more. I wasn’t easily intimidated in a game, so even when I stuttered, I was always the kid who said, ‘Give me the ball.’” Robert Markel, an Archmere graduate and former baseball teammate of Biden’s, recalls his classmate fondly. “He was an outgoing person, very sociable, talks with everybody, would talk with anybody,” Markel said. “That’s the strength that he has, is communicating and connecting with people.” Archived editions of The News Journal, the main newspaper of Wilmington, Del., reveal a trove of information about Biden’s high school athletic trajectory. On September 21, 1960, the Journal printed a season preview for Archmere’s football team, with sports reporter Hal Bodley writing, “[Biden] is one of the best pass receivers on the team.” Archmere’s football coach at the time, E. John Walsh, echoed praise of Biden’s skills as a receiver to The New York Times in 2008. Walsh took over the reins of Archmere
football in 1960, just two years out of college and with little coaching experience. He inherited a team with a dismal 1-6 record the season prior. Archmere had not won more than two games in a season since 1948. Expectations were low. Walsh was forced to recruit 12 of his 30 players from the school cafeteria line when not enough people showed up in the preseason. Biden, a senior who had lettered the previous year as an end, was converted to left halfback. In spite of the odds seemingly stacked against the team, Walsh told The News Journal that for the upcoming September, “I think we’ll provide some surprises.” He was right. Archmere cruised to its conference title with a perfect 8-0 record. It was a storybook season, and Biden was at the forefront. In the conference scoring race, Biden finished fifth with four touchdowns through four games for 24 points, higher than any other Archmere player. When his four nonconference games are also taken into account, Biden’s point total that year skyrocketed to 60, putting him among the highest in the state of Delaware. Game tapes from 1960 showing several of Biden’s Archmere touchdowns were posted to YouTube in 2010 with narration provided by Bill Peterman, the quarterback on the other end of his receptions. In May 2012, Walsh was inducted into the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame, and his former left halfback — serving his first term as Vice President of the United States at the time — returned to Delaware to honor him. “[Walsh] urged us to play the game the same way you lived your life, with passion and integrity,” Biden said in an impromptu speech at the 2012 induction ceremony. “No matter how good you were, Coach always stressed that you were a teammate first.” Honoring his former coach isn’t the only way Biden has stayed connected to his high school roots. Honoring their undefeated season, the team holds periodical reunions, three of which Biden hosted. According to Markel, former Archmere
students who live in the Philadelphia and Wilmington areas also regularly get together for lunches, and Biden has joined them before, the last time in December 2018. Once, Biden picked up the tab for everyone’s meal. The News Journal also reports that Biden was a member of Archmere’s baseball team. Available box scores show that he played outfield and usually batted in the latter half of the lineup. It was clear to everyone, however, that Biden was best on the gridiron. “His game was football,” Markel said. “And he was good at football, he was very good. My vision is him catching passes, and helping us win games.” It’s that winning spirit that Biden has drawn upon throughout his political career. “If you want to be in elected office, having an outstanding career outside elected office is always good,” Markel said. “So I think it helps you, it says to people that I've been successful other than just running for office.” While Biden’s late son and former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden played sprint football at Penn, his father also dabbled in collegiate athletics. Biden’s sports achievements in high school are undeniable, but there is some debate surrounding his role on the University of Delaware's football team. In 2012, he was slammed by right-wing media outlets Breitbart and The Gateway Pundit after a campaign stop in Athens, Ohio. Both publications challenged Biden for misleading reporters by mentioning a football game played between the Blue Hens and the University of Ohio, since yearbooks from Biden’s tenure don’t list him on the team roster. “I just double-checked my memory, you know, you get to my age and you’re not so sure you remember. You know, your glory days look more glorious than they really were,” Biden told the crowd in Athens. “I went back on the Internet and I just want you to know that I came here on October 19, 1963, and we beat you Bobcats 29-12.” Records show the score is correct. But Biden did not, in fact, play in that game, as
the University of Delaware’s sports information department confirmed to the Huffington Post in 2012. Prior to 1972, freshmen were not eligible to play varsity football in the NCAA, and were instead relegated to freshman teams for their first year. When Biden enrolled, he joined the Delaware freshman team that fall — or as they were nicknamed, the "Blue Chicks." However, by Biden’s own admission, he did not last long on the team that year, quitting after the fall season to focus on his studies after earning a dismal 1.9 grade point average. “When my first semester grades came out, my mom and dad told me I wouldn’t be playing spring football,” Biden wrote in "Promises to Keep." Rejoining the team and making the varsity squad remained Biden’s goal until his junior year. “I hadn’t played for two years, but I surprised the coaches by moving up the depth chart fast,” he wrote. “After the annual spring game that April, it looked like I had a shot to start at defensive back. I couldn’t wait until next September; I could almost see the fall season unfold in my head.” The dream season didn’t come to pass, however. That spring, Biden met Neilia Hunter while on vacation in Florida, and immediately fell in love. Since Hunter lived in Syracuse, Biden realized he would have to choose between spending his weekends with her or playing football. He picked Hunter and quit the team. She would become his first wife. Biden then went on to law school, but he didn’t practice law for very long after getting his degree. Within five years of passing the bar, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in an unlikely victory over a well-established Republican incumbent. This wasn’t surprising to those who have shared the field with Biden, because to them he wasn’t just known as "Dash." He was a victor to them, no matter the odds. The Biden campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
cade older than Trump, and began playing for the San Francisco Giants in 1959, when Trump was 13. Trump’s most brazen claim comes from a Tweet he posted in 2013, in which he describes himself as “the best [baseball] player in N.Y. state,” citing his former coach Major Theodore Dobias as corroboration. Notably, Dobias served as the freshmen team coach at NYMA and had never coached Trump at the varsity level. Dobias frequently echoed high praise of Trump’s athletic ability, talking to Rolling
According to archived editions of Fordham’s student publication, The Fordham Ram, Trump competed as a member of the squash team for both years he studied at Fordham, and joined tennis his sophomore spring. In Trump’s freshman year, the squash team put up a conference record of 3-5, which The Ram described as “a rather dismal season”. The following year, the team finished 3-9. Trump was referenced by name in an article published on March 3, 1966, as a member of “a strong nucleus of veterans [who] will return next year to perhaps bring Fordham a
Trump has long boasted his baseball skills, but he never took to the diamond at Fordham or Penn BY L O C H L A H N M A R C H
Why didn't Donald
.500 record.” The same year, transferred to Penn and quit the sport. While no records of Trump’s personal matches were archived by The Fordham Ram, it is noteworthy that the alleged best high school baseball player in New York would choose to play for an unsuccessful squash team in college. Trump has never made a public statement regarding his collegiate squash endeavors. The White House did not respond to requests for comment. As an underclassman, Trump was by no accounts the best player on the team. The top two Rams entered the Metropolitan Conference Squash Tournament each year, and Trump never earned a bid. Squash was seemingly as much of a time commitment as baseball. While the baseball team was able to train on campus, squash athletes were forced to make their own way from Rose Hill in the Bronx to the New York Athletic Club in Midtown Manhattan for practice.
PHOTO BY THE WHITE HOUSE
ELECTION GUIDE 2 3
Stone in 2015 and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution the following year about his former pupil. He repeatedly claimed Trump had been scouted by the Philadelphia Phillies, Boston Red Sox, and West Point as a first baseman. Dobias passed away in 2016. Neither the Red Sox nor the Phillies could provide scouting documentation from the 1960s to Schaerlaeckens to substantiate Dobias’ claim. The Daily Pennsylvanian reached out to West Point, but their baseball program does not keep such records either. Fordham University, where Trump ultimately enrolled for his freshman and sophomore years, never added him to their roster. In the 1960s, Fordham was a top baseball contender in New York. The year before Trump enrolled, the team’s record was 18-103, earning the Rams a second-place finish in the Metropolitan Conference. Despite the program’s accolades, Trump opted to join Fordham’s squash and tennis teams instead of testing his baseball ability at the collegiate level.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020
play sports at Penn?
The Rams never faced Penn while Trump played, but the Quakers saw much more success during the same time period. The season prior to Trump’s transfer, the Red and Blue earned their first-ever share of the Ivy League crown and produced an individual National Intercollegiate Squash Champion in their captain, Howard Coonley II. Trump would not help defend Penn’s squash title once he arrived in Philadelphia, and would never set foot on a baseball diamond as a Quaker, either. “[Trump] never played baseball and never had anything to do with baseball [at Penn],” Seddon said. “He was not involved at all in the athletic program to my knowledge at Penn, but definitely not with baseball.” At the time, Penn played in the Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League, composed of all eight Ivy League schools in addition to Army and Navy. During Trump’s junior and senior years, the Quakers finished in a tie for eighth and seventh, respectively. Trump's tenure at Penn has been described as forgettable by his classmates, with alumni recalling that he was rarely on campus. Some theorized he returned to Manhattan to work with his father every weekend, a habit that would certainly be at odds with the demands of a varsity sport. Trump did find time, however, to take up golf while at Wharton, a hobby that he would would bring with him to the White House. “I was going to the Wharton School of Finance, at the University of Pennsylvania, and I had friends that were golfers,” Trump told Golf Digest in 2014. “I’d never played golf — I always played baseball and football and stuff. And so I’d go out to Cobbs Creek, in Philadelphia, yeah, a public course, a rough course, no grass on the tees, no nothing, but it was good, and great people.” Admittedly new to the sport, Trump would not seek to join the Quakers as a member of the golf team either. Penn golf was at its peak during the 1960s, with 1965 marking Penn’s most recent appearance at the NCAA Golf Championship. In the late 1960s, men over 18 were eligible to be drafted into the Armed Forces and potentially sent to Vietnam. And just four years after being a self-proclaimed MLB prospect and two years after competing as a dual-sport Division I athlete, Trump would be deemed medically unfit to serve in the military. After receiving four academic deferments, two each from Fordham and Penn, Trump received a 1-Y medical deferment in October 1968 following a diagnosis of bone spurs in his heels. Trump has never offered a reason for this sudden ailment, and when asked in 2015, could not recall which foot had been affected. The 2016 Trump presidential campaign later published a statement stating spurs had affected both of his heels. It’s certainly possible that a sudden and fleeting affliction of bone spurs or real estate obligations prevented Trump from continuing to compete in any sports while at Penn. Or perhaps, he just wasn’t good enough to be a Quaker.
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P
lan A was to follow his father into the real estate business. Plan B was to play first base for the Phillies. That’s what 1968 Wharton graduate and President Donald Trump says, anyway. But Mary Trump’s allegations of her uncle cheating on his SATs to gain admission to Penn have cast further doubt on the legitimacy of Donald Trump’s academic boasts during his mysterious college years. “Donald worried that his grade point average, which put him far from the top of his class, would scuttle his efforts to get accepted,” Mary Trump wrote in In "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man." While Trump initially enrolled at Fordham after high school, he transferred to Penn as a junior. Penn requires SAT scores to be reported as part of transfer applications. But if a low GPA or standardized test score was a concern, a self-described high school baseball phenom might have another avenue to a top university, as recruited athletes are often advantaged in the admissions process. “You could get a kid in maybe with an 1100 [SAT score],” said Bob Seddon, coach of Penn soccer from 1968-86 and Penn baseball from 1972-2005. “He’d have to be a real stretch. He’d have to be a real stud, that you were getting, that maybe Princeton wanted or Cornell wanted. And you would sell [him to] the admissions people.” With his academic records sealed, one feature of Trump’s undergraduate career that can be uncovered is his athletic pursuits. If Trump had the athletic talent, as he says he did, why didn’t he play collegiate sports? The truth is, he did. But not at Penn, and curiously not for the sport he claims is his best. Trump’s declarations of his baseball stardom can be traced back to 2004. In Brian Kilmeade’s collection "The Games Do Count: America’s Best and Brightest on the Power of Sports," Trump contributed a chapter describing the connection between playing high school baseball and success in the business world. “I was supposed to be a pro baseball player,” Trump wrote. “At the New York Military Academy, I was captain of the baseball team. I worked hard like everyone else, but I had good talent.” In the same chapter, Trump added, “People asked me if I worked hard in sports. I didn’t. I loved it too much to call it work.” Then, explaining why he left baseball behind, he wrote, “I never played baseball after that because there was just no future in it for me. I would have had to have done it just for the love of the game, and that just wasn’t for me.” Trump also described his first time seeing his own name in a newspaper headline, after hitting a home run to beat Cornwall High School in 1964. Writing for Slate, Leander Schaerlaeckens was unable to find a corroborating headline. In fact, he was unable to find mention of a game played at all between NYMA and Cornwall in their 1963 or 1964 schedules. Schaerlaeckens also found a discrepancy in Trump’s assertion of attending a tryout with Willie McCovey. McCovey was almost a de-
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