Register to Vote So You Can Kill the BRT

By Nina Sachdev
Add Comment Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Apr. 19, 2010

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Hey, Philly, listen up:

If you're planning on voting in the May 18 primary, TODAY is the last day to register to vote.

If you're not interested in registering as a Democrat or Republican, you can't vote (Pa.'s primaries are closed). HOWEVER...If you are a registered, unaffiliated voter, you can vote on ballot questions. Which means that you can vote to abolish the Board of Revision of Taxes. If this happens, it will be replaced with the Office of Property Assessment—and a separate appeals board.

Just to recap: The BRT is a patronage-packed office (the part-time workers make $70,000 a year) that has not been able to justify, in any logical manner, their wildly inaccurate property assessments. Read the Inquirer's coverage here. These oversights have cost the city more money than you can possibly imagine.

The bottom line is this: We're in a budget crisis. There are several proposals floating around to raise our taxes. If you don't want new taxes—and you don't—do the right thing and help clean up our city government. That's where the real savings are.

Voter-registration applications are available at post offices, state liquor stores and library branches. Downloadable forms are available at the Committee of Seventy and VotesPA.

Voters can also register in person at the following locations:

PennDOT photo license centers

State offices that provide public assistance and services to persons with disabilities

Armed Forces Recruitment Centers

County Clerk of Orphans' Court offices, including Marriage License Bureaus

Area Agencies on the Aging

Centers for Independent Living

County Mental Health and Mental Retardation offices

Student disability services offices of the State System of Higher Education

Offices of Special Education

ADA Complementary Paratransit offices

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