Engaging students before they leave high school is crucial, Quinn stressed, because statistics show that those who miss voting in their first eligible election often wait until their late 20s or 30s to start participating regularly, if they participate at all.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIf young people aren\u2019t voting, the political system doesn\u2019t work for them,\u201d he said. \u201cBut if they do, it brings more resources to them and their communities.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
The day\u2019s most poignant moment came when Vilma Ray Pratt was honored for more than 50 years of service as a poll worker. Pratt, who began in the early 1970s, said she still works every election.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cVoting is important. I tell young people all the time \u2018Your vote counts. Do not let anybody tell you it doesn\u2019t,\u2019\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n
When Ray Pratt first started working elections, Richard Nixon was president, ballots were tallied by hand and Philadelphia\u2019s polling places were filled with clipboards and stacks of paper.\n<\/p>\n
Even before she was old enough to vote, Ray Pratt began helping her mother, a committee woman in South Philadelphia\u2019s Tasker Homes projects, one of Philadelphia\u2019s earliest public housing projects, knock on doors and pass out political literature.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI started as a door knocker,\u201d she recalled. \u201cI would go around with my mother, knocking on doors, passing out literature. Then I started working the polls with her, and I\u2019ve been doing it ever since.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Ray Pratt has worked every phase of Election Day: checking voters in, guiding them to machines and making sure ballots are cast securely. For her, the biggest satisfaction comes from ensuring that her team \u2014 especially her senior colleagues \u2014 has everything they need. This November, Ray Pratt will once again take her place in a South Philadelphia polling place.\n<\/p>\n
She appeared surprised to be receiving a commendation before the more than 100 people assembled at the event.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s fantastic,\u201d she said. \u201cI never thought this day would come. We do what we do just to serve our community and our city, and to be recognized today \u2014 I\u2019m so happy.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
She has seen seismic changes in elections \u2014 from paper ballots to digital machines, from handwritten poll books to electronic voter rolls. Yet the core of the work remains the same.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cVoting is so important because it lets us have a voice in the world today,\u201d she said. \u201cPoll workers help their communities and their city to grow. They make sure we get the things we need in our area.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Ray Pratt is also a champion for younger poll workers, recruiting high school students and new voters to join her on Election Day. And she\u2019s seen the results: more young voters showing up at the polls.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI love having the younger ones. I go out and get them. That\u2019s how we keep democracy alive,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s how we keep democracy alive.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
For Ray Pratt, the work is as much about community pride as civic duty. She still lives in South Philadelphia, within blocks of where she grew up, and she plans to keep serving as long as she can.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI did my part,\u201d she told the crowd. \u201cAnd I hope everybody does theirs.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Engaging students before they leave high school is crucial, Quinn stressed, because statistics show that those who miss…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":153172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,89694,1448,2830,1311,89695,89696,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-153171","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-elections-2025","10":"tag-pa","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-philadelphia","13":"tag-philadelphia-elections","14":"tag-poll-workers","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115044302405708893","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}