Pennsylvania Vote-Watch Announced

The administration of Gov. Ed Rendell said Thursday it would put state workers at county election offices on Nov. 2 to watch for any problems in this battleground state.

The plan has raised suspicions among Republican leaders.

The volunteers, including one lawyer to be sent to each office, will be given cellphones and ordered to call state officials if they see a problem.

“This hasn’t ever been done before. We’ll be the first to admit it,” said Kenneth A. Rapp, deputy secretary for regulatory programs for the Department of State.

Rendell, a Democrat, has made clear his concern that Pennsylvania avoid the type of electoral debacle the nation witnessed in Florida in 2000.

He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee when Al Gore lost that recount-marred presidential election to George W. Bush.

“If problems arise throughout the day -- and we saw that in Florida -- we’ll have someone at the election offices to resolve them

“They will not be interacting with voters, there’s nothing partisan about the effort -- our goal is to ensure the smoothest election possible for the people of Pennsylvania,” Phillips said.

But Republican leaders are wary.

“It’s certainly curious and it has the potential to be a problem. We’re certainly concerned,” said Drew Crompton, an aide to Republican state Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Jubelirer.

Fred Voigt, head of a Philadelphia-based election watchdog group, said he thought the deployment was overkill.

“Everyone has the 2000 jitters. I think people are going nuts.

“We’re being attorneyed to death for no reason,” Voigt said. “It’s all paranoia.