Committee of Seventy’s Tanisha Bezue Answers 2024 Presidential Election Queries 

Jayson Massey 

August 24, 2024 

Community College of Philadelphia’s Institute for Community Engagement and Civic Leadership hosted an information session with the Committee of Seventy about the United States (U.S.) presidential race, from Biden’s dropping out to the inauguration. On August 14, Room BR-26 contained a lively discussion and question and answer period about voting and our election system. Tanisha Bezue is a Program Director for the Committee of Seventy, the leading organization for trusted Philadelphia’s political and government information and analysis. Mrs. Bezue talked about the path to electing a President and your rights as a voter in a presentation called ‘Your Questions on the 2024 Presidential Election Process Answered.’

As you may know, Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic nomination for President on Thursday, August 22. Biden was the presumptive nominee, but party nominations are only official after the party hosts its convention. Since 1968, political parties have used primaries so people can choose the nominee instead of party officials. Pennsylvania uses a closed primary system, so Republican voters can vote only for Republican candidates and Democratic voters can vote only for Democratic candidates.   

In primary elections for U.S. presidential candidates, voters elect party delegates and vote for who they would like those delegates to support at the convention. Since Biden dropped out, those delegates were up for grabs. On August 6, the delegates chose Kamala Harris via video conference. 

November 5 is the General Election, and polls are open on election day from 7 a.m. – 8 p.m. in Pennsylvania.  The last day to register to vote in Pennsylvania is October 21.  You can go to the #CCPVotes site to find out how to register to vote. 

When we vote for president, we use the Electoral College to determine the winner. Each state plus Washington D.C. is represented by electors equal to the number of elected officials the state sends to the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S Senate, plus three for the District of Columbia.  Pennsylvania has 17 Representatives and 2 Senators (each state has two Senators) for a total of 19. There are 538 electors in total. To prevail in the Electoral College, a candidate, Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, must receive a majority of at least 270 electoral votes.   

One of the two biggest dates after the presidential election is January 6, 2025, when U.S. Congress counts the electoral votes. If Harris & Walz or Trump & Vance have received 270 or more electoral votes, the President of the Senate announces the president-elect. Interestingly, the current president of the Senate is Vice President Kamala Harris. Then on January 20, 2025, the president-elect is sworn into office on Inauguration Day. 

Mrs. Bezue stressed the importance of planning to vote. The first step is the register to vote. You can use the PA Check Your Voter Registration Status site to see if you’re on the current voter rolls. If you are not, register! You must be at least 18 years of age on the day of the election. You must be a Pennsylvania resident to vote in Pennsylvania. You also must be a resident of your election district and a United States citizen for at least 30 days before the next election. If you are a returning citizen, know that voting rights are only lost while you are incarcerated for a felony, and they are automatically restored after release. Check your voter registration status to determine if you can vote and where your polling place is. 

The second step in the plan is to research. Use voter guides to provide background information on candidates, like who you can vote for and their experience and goals. Sample ballots show you who and what you are voting for in an election.  Fill out a sample ballot on the Committee of Seventy site to make voting easy. 

Websites for research include the Committee of 70’s Interactive Voter Guide at ballot.seventy.org,  League of Women Voters for Pennsylvania election information, Ballotopia for candidate information, and SpotlightPA, a non-profit journalism source which covers Pennsylvania politics.

The third step is to plan for Election Day. You can request a mail-in ballot if you’re unsure or unable to make it to the polls on November 5. You can change your mind, just keep your mail-in ballot with you at your polling location. Request a mail-in ballot at the PA Apply for a Mail-in or Absentee Ballot site. 

Plan to go to the polls on November 5. Plan the time and how you are going to get there. Take some friends or family with you to the polls for support and companionship. If you’re nervous about voting at the polls, know that you have rights. You can request assistance and almost anyone can assist you. Just sign a voter assistance form. You can also request a new ballot from a poll worker if you make a mistake. And you can vote while wearing clothing that supports a candidate or a party. 

Speaking of voting, poll workers are an important part of the voting process.  And our poll workers are getting older. A Newsweek article states that the average American poll worker is 72 years old.  We need new poll workers to allow us to continue the democratic process of voting.  One way to find out more is to go to the Power The Polls site* and sign up.  You’ll get paid training and work on Election Day to help folks vote in your county. Another way is to attend a Poll Worker Information Session with the Committee of Seventy on-campus. 

There was also a question-and-answer period where Mrs. Bezue easily handled a gaggle of voting, government, and political questions.  She also went over the experience of working at a Democratic National Convention. She’s a real asset to voters in Philadelphia. Find out more about the Committee of Seventy’s work at https://seventy.org/, or on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, YouTube, and LinkedIn.