Germantown woman brings election resources to neighborhood

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Despite a pandemic, mail issues, and changes to voting procedures, there is no excuse to sit out of the 2020 election if you live near Clarice Thomas in Germantown.

"There are people who are already saying I want to vote, but they haven't gone through the process to get ready," said the lifelong Germantown resident, who's bringing the election to her neighbors with her voter information cart.

"I was pretty much a political couch potato, since things turned the way they have, it's so important to participate," she said.

Thomas associates with the democratic committee, but her bottom line goes beyond parties.

"We're not talking about who to vote for, but we're saying get to the polls," she said.

With the pandemic, a lot of places people would normally go to get their vote information are closed, so Thomas wanted to make sure her neighborhood still ahd easy access to two very important forms, voter registration and an application for a mail in ballot.

"I am hoping that we get out and vote in droves simply because we had concern about the numbers in 2016," said Barbara Kigozi, who's helping Thomas with the effort.

In 2016, about 28% of the city's voting age population wasn't even registered and only 64% of those who were showed up to the polls.

"When you look at statistics, you see there are big gaps and there are way more people registered than who actually come out and vote," said Paula Paul, who also lives on the block and helps with polls.

Starting with the people next door, the team thinks they can make a difference in helping neighbors know how to make their votes count.

"I do not want to wake up another time, another day or two after the election and try to figure out how did we get here," said Thomas.