Journal
These are the most recent entries posted on Seth Warren’s Journal.
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Primary Day 2025
Posted May 17, 2025 | 8:00 pm
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Election Day 2024
Posted October 29, 2024 | 12:31 am
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Primary Day 2024
Posted April 22, 2024 | 3:48 pm
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Election Day 2023
Posted November 6, 2023 | 7:01 pm
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Primary Day 2023
Posted May 15, 2023 | 1:05 am
“Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time…”
Winston Churchill, November 11th 1947
The above quote, attributed to Churchill, is actually of unknown origin. Churchill himself stated that he was quoting from another source – one he had long forgotten and unsure if he’d known of it’s providence in the first place. Regardless, I think upon the quote and language surrounding the institutions of democracy: we embark on forming a more perfect union, not a perfect union. To me it seems that, outside the bounds of fictions relegated to the mind of each individual, perfect is impossible.
Not that we shouldn’t continue to try.
I have been serving as a poll worker, specifically a Judge of Election, for twelve years now. After the May 20th primary, we shall find out if the voters in my district want to keep me around for another four years. I can only hope that I have done right by every single one of them.
As a private citizen, I’ve already mailed my ballot back. It contained some questions which needed to be answered:
Special Election Question 1
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Shall the Pittsburgh Home Rule YES |
Special Election Question 2
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Shall the Pittsburgh Home Rule YES |
Special Election Question 3
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Shall the Pittsburgh Home Rule YES |
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We in the United States are one week away from Election Day – or, more accurately at this point – the conclusion of election season. If you are in Pennsylvania, the polls to vote in person are open from 7:00AM until 8:00PM on Tuesday, November 5th. If you opted for mail-in voting, you should probably get that ballot in a post office box immediately so it isn’t late and you don’t risk it not being counted! My ballot was filled out and submitted weeks ago.
To the detriment of any other long-form journal writing, for several years now I’ve encouraged people to vote and then "endorsed" a laundry list of candidates. However, at this juncture, I feel it would be remiss of me to act like everything is normal this year: things are most certainly not normal. The republican nominee for President is a fascist – there is simply no other way to put it. His rally at Madison Square Garden over the weekend was the most amplified his hateful rhetoric has ever been. This same rhetoric has persisted since his firing from the office in 2020 and his violent attempts to keep it on January 6th, 2021.
This gluttonous desire for power has made executing the duties of an elections worker a hazardous job. Nationwide, poll workers and elections officials have faced threats of violence by people who have been lied to and whipped into a frenzy by a man who neither cares for them personally nor the institution of democracy as a whole. As I think forward to once more executing my duties as a Judge of Election at my polling place this Tuesday, November 5th, it remains on my mind that I am among those who have been threatened. Will it happen again and how shall I defend not only myself, but democracy?
Perhaps I will write at length one day about what happened when the wolves came to my door. It feels especially salient as I prepare myself to step up and make the case for my own reelection in 2025. However, in my role as a private citizen, a lover of democracy and an American, I implore my fellow voters…
Please, please, PLEASE reject fascism. Vote for democracy and decency. Vote to to pull our nation back from the brink.
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We are one week away from Primary Day in Pennsylvania. If you vote by mail, now is the time to get that ballot in a mailbox! If you enjoy potentially standing in line and being accosted by last-minute campaigners (whom are only allowed to do so if they are not blocking the entrance to your polling location), in-person voting happens from 7:00AM-8:00PM on Tuesday, April 23rd. Everything you need to know about voting in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is online.
My mail-in ballot was returned and recorded last week, so these particular selections are locked in:
President and Vice President
Pennsylvania Congressional District 12
Pennsylvania State House District 36
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It is now General Election season in Pennsylvania! The deadline for returning your mail-in ballot is 8:00PM on November 7th which is when the ballot must be physically received at your local election office to be counted – a postmark is not sufficient. 8:00PM on May 16th is also the latest you can get into line at your polling place, 7:00AM being the earliest.
If this all looks familiar, it’s because everyone whom I voted for in the primary won and I get to vote for them again…
Allegheny County Executive
Allegheny County Council At-Large
Allegheny County District Attorney
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Primary Election season is upon us in Pennsylvania! The deadline for returning your mail-in ballot is 8:00PM on May 16th – that’s when the ballot must be physically received in your local election office to be counted; a postmark is not sufficient. 8:00PM on May 16th is also the latest you can get into line at your polling place, 7:00AM is the earliest.
My mail-in ballot was received by my Elections office last week and I think I picked some good ones…
Allegheny County Executive
Allegheny County Council At-Large
Allegheny County District Attorney
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