VIDEO: Serious, Committed, Active Citizens
David Thornburgh knows what it’s like to work the polls on Election Day. The son of former Republican Pennsylvania governor and U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, David put in long hours for many years as a GOP poll worker at his Germantown precinct in Philadelphia, even serving as minority inspector.
It takes tens of thousands of everyday Pennsylvanians – people from both parties – to make sure our elections run smoothly. Statewide, Pennsylvania utilizes about 45,000 poll workers to staff 9,000 voting locations.
“I served with neighbors and friends and people that I sometimes just recognized from the neighborhood,” said Thornburgh, senior advisor and former president and CEO of the good government group Committee of Seventy and now chairman of Ballot PA. “The woman that walked her dog past our house or the young father that played with our kids at the at the playground.”
Local election officials and poll workers put in long hours on election day to ensure everything runs as planned. They take this responsibility seriously, taking part in extensive training to make sure votes are cast fairly and counted correctly.
“The most important thing to know about how elections are run in Pennsylvania is that it’s regular everyday folks that are the frontline troops of delivering secure elections,” he said.
Listen to David in his own words talk about the “serious, committed, active citizens” who protect your vote.