Creekside Controversy

For more than 30 years (4/01) residents of the Creekside Apartments in Bensalem voted in the apartment complex. They formed three fourths of the voters in the Lower Middle 5 voting district. In the spring of 2007 two people in Lower Middle 5 who do not live at Creekside wrote letters asking for the polling place to be moved for safety reasons.

Creekside Apartments has had some ups and down. In earlier years the complex of buildings had crime problems but was turning around by the early 1990’s (7/11/93):

Even more impressive than the improved appearance are the ambitious programs for residents, which all grew out of an idea [Vera] Ellison had three years ago. They range from computer training, day care and job-search advice at the complex's new Women's Center to summer camps, flea markets, international dinners and language lessons in Gujarati, an Indian language. The programs are run by a volunteer corps of enthusiastic residents, recruited, organized and motivated by Ellison, now employed full-time as resident service coordinator.

In the Best of Apartment Living competition, Creekside ranked third in its category for overall community excellence (7/13/1997). In recent years there have been some notable crimes, including two fatal shootings. Last April the two letters were sent; one of the requests was written by a current or past GOP committee person. Most of the Creekside voters are Democrats (3/26).

The polling place was moved a mile or so away to a hall that also serves as the voting place for another district. Creekside voters voted in a dimly lit bar while the other district used a banquet hall. The chairman of the Bensalem Republican Club suggested that Creekside voters who found it difficult to travel to the new polling place use an absentee ballot. This suggestion was not made to those who lived outside of Creekside and did not want to go there to vote (keep in mind that almost 75% of those in the district live in the apartments) (4/10/2007). An April 11th editorial in the Bucks County Courier Times suggested having a mobile voting unit on the edge of the apartments or those who did not want to go there to vote, but thought the main voting should stay where it had been (4/11/2007) Voting rates among Creekside residents declined after the move (3/25/08).

On March 26th the Bucks County Courier Times ran an editorial which said, in part:

Bottom line: fewer Creekside residents voted last year.

That fallout is troubling enough. But when you consider that Creekside makes up more than 75 percent of the voting district's population, the fact the polling place was moved is even more disturbing.

Then there's this: One of the two letter writers is a Republican committeewoman. And this: Neither letter writer has spoken publicly even though the issue has been raised several times in public forums. And finally this: Most Creekside voters are Democrats.

An editorial in today’s (4/01/2008) paper supports a compromise measure:

Make Creekside its own voting district.
This could be accomplished by moving all non-Creekside residents, who currently share a district with Creekside, into the neighboring district. This makes sense because Creekside has nearly a thousand registered voters, which is many times the size of a lot of voting districts. In fact, Creekside voters comprise three-quarters of the current district.

Cites:
Boccella, Kathy, “Back from despair a sense of community arises in a once-neglected complex,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 7/11/1993

“Grand old politics,” Bucks County Courier Times, 3/26/08

Heavens, Alan J. “The envelope, please,” Philadelphia Inquirer 7/13/1997

McGinnis, James, “Bucks NAACP resists effort to move polls,” Bucks County Courier Times 4/10/2007

“Majority should rule: keep disputed polling place right where it is,” Bucks County Courier Times, 04/11/2007

“Perfect solution,” Bucks County Courier Times, 4/01/2008

Portnoy, Jenna, “Commisioners reject call to relocate polling site,” Bucks County Courier Times, 03/25/08