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<\/p>\nMAYFIELD \u2014 A certificate from the Pennsylvania Voter Hall of Fame arrived at Al Chelik\u2019s house unexpectedly a few years ago. Once he figured out what it was, he framed it and hung it in his \u201cman cave\u201d as a memento of his devotion to voting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t remember missing any election,\u201d said Chelik, 83.<\/p>\n
Chelik is one of 3,593 people from Lackawanna County listed in the Pennsylvania Voter Hall of Fame, an electronic list of people who have voted in at least 50 consecutive November general elections.\u00a0Genie Lupini is another.<\/p>\n
She said rain, sleet and snow don\u2019t stop her from voting. \u201cI just felt it\u2019s my duty to do that,\u201d Lupini said. \u201cYou know, I want to make my voice heard with my vote, to make sure that the right people, or the people that I feel are the right people, get in their positions.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Mayfield Mayor Al Chelik\u2019s Voter Hall of Fame certificate from the state of Pennsylvania. (CHAD SEBRING\/STAFF PHOTO)\n<\/p>\n
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Mayfield Mayor Al Chelik\u2019s Voter Hall of Fame certificate from the state of Pennsylvania. (CHAD SEBRING\/STAFF PHOTO)\n<\/p>\n
Expand<\/a> Lackawanna County has the most voters on the list. That likely has less to do with turnout than how frequently counties send in their statistics.<\/p>\n Voter statistics are meticulously tracked. The Hall of Fame is just an optional awareness campaign. Only three Luzerne County voters have been listed in 40 years. Pike County and York County each recently held ceremonies to honor new inductees.<\/p>\n What makes a voter?<\/p>\n Chelik and Lupini are rarities. Voting peaks in presidential years. For other November elections, such as Tuesday\u2019s, it is not unusual for barely half of registered Pennsylvanians to turn out to choose governors, members of Congress, state legislators and local leaders. Approximately 10% of those eligible aren\u2019t even registered.<\/p>\n Aside from their sense of duty, Chelik and Lupini each check various boxes in the demographics of champion voters.<\/p>\n Generation after generation, the older generation tends to vote at a high rate, which might reflect their long-standing engagement in their communities, said Adam Shprintzen, Ph.D., a Marywood University history professor and author.<\/p>\n Chelik is a veteran. He voted by military absentee ballot from Germany and Turkey during the Vietnam era. Active duty and veterans vote at higher rates than others. That may reflect their investment in American ideals, Shprintzen said.<\/p>\n There is a statistical link between college education and voting. Chelik spent his career as a social studies teacher and principal in the Lakeland School District. \u201cMy master\u2019s degree is a Master of Arts in history, so I was pretty well versed in our history and what has worked and what hasn\u2019t worked, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n They are also among the young people invigorated by the presidency of John F. Kennedy. \u201cThe thing that I was most disappointed in is, I wanted to vote for Kennedy, but because he was assassinated the previous November,\u201d he couldn\u2019t, Chelik said.<\/p>\n Elections are personal for Chelik and Lupini. He is the longtime Democratic mayor of tiny Mayfield in Lackawanna County and also served on borough council, the zoning board and the planning commission. Lupini has been the Jessup tax collector for many years and succeeded her husband in office. She\u2019s been active in all kinds of community efforts.<\/p>\n Shprintzen isn\u2019t aware of any data that shows that people involved in politics are more frequent voters, but he said it makes sense. \u201cProbably the people who are engaged directly understand how the process works, understand why it\u2019s such an important process, are going to be more likely to engage with their vote as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Voting turnout is also linked to race and income. Chelik and Lupini are white and financially secure.<\/p>\n There are \u201cissues related to voter suppression\u201d nationwide, such as closing polling places in minority communities, Shprintzen said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you live in densely populated areas where there may be long lines, and there may be long lines at particular points of time, say after the workday. These mitigating factors \u2014 availability of time, childcare, access to your polls \u2014 become much more significant,\u201d Shprintzen said.<\/p>\n Mayfield has only one polling place, but the borough\u2019s entire population is only 1,700. It\u2019s a short trip for Chelik. He\u2019ll linger to talk. \u201cI\u2019ll spend some time outside the poll after I vote, you know, or during the day when I deliver the meals.\u201d Mayfield officials chip in money to buy meals for poll workers. Campaign buttons aren\u2019t allowed inside polling places, but he plans to wear one outside to support a favorite candidate.<\/p>\n \u2018If you can keep it\u2019<\/p>\n Lupini also votes in person. She wishes she had more company. Too many people don\u2019t feel it\u2019s necessary to vote. \u201cAnd I can\u2019t understand that at all, because they don\u2019t realize that these people are going to make things happen for them, for their benefit. I clearly don\u2019t understand why people don\u2019t come out, and I do my best to try to get everybody out to vote.\u201d Just talking to the people in your life is probably the best voter turnout technique, she said.<\/p>\n Chelik has several proposals, including moving elections to weekends or declaring election day a holiday. He favors opening the spring primaries to independent voters and those registered with small parties, allowing them to vote in one party\u2019s primary without joining. He also suggests finding a way to send voter registration applications to teens turning 18.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you remember, Benjamin Franklin, when he was asked what kind of government we have: \u2018It\u2019s a republic, if you can keep it.\u2019\u201d Chelik said. \u201cAnd I felt that, you know, it was my duty to get out there and express how I wanted my country to run.\u201d<\/p>\n Voting in the current general election<\/p>\n Election Day is Tuesday, with polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Anyone in line at 8 p.m. is allowed to vote. All votes \u2014 in person, in drop boxes and by mail \u2014 must be received by then.<\/p>\n Voters are already using drop boxes for mail ballots. If you plan to send your ballot through the mail, time is short. It must be received \u2014 not just postmarked \u2014 by Tuesday at 8 p.m. Pay careful attention to the instructions. A mistake can get your ballot tossed out.<\/p>\n Use Pa.gov\/agencies\/vote<\/a> to find drop box and voting booth locations and what to do if you encounter a problem at the polls.<\/p>\n The offices on the ballot include the governor of Pennsylvania, members of the federal and state legislatures and local leaders.<\/p>\n Who is in the Pennsylvania Voter Hall of Fame?<\/p>\n The Pennsylvania Voter Hall of Fame honors people who have voted in at least 50 consecutive November elections.\u00a0More than 25,000 have been entered in the online list since the state started it in 1986 to encourage voting. Voters who believe they qualify can send a form to their county election bureau. The form and the list of people in the Voter Hall of Fame are online at Pa.gov\/agencies\/vote\/programs\/voter-hall-of-fame<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MAYFIELD \u2014 A certificate from the Pennsylvania Voter Hall of Fame arrived at Al Chelik\u2019s house unexpectedly a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318748,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[836,201,182,883,803,3296,139,28,50,231,178,180,179,6519,729],"class_list":["post-318747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-election","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-local-politics","tag-luzerne-county","tag-national-politics","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-politics","tag-schuylkill-county","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-top-stories-hzs","tag-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAn incomplete honor<\/p>\n