Campaign website
sethbluestein.com
What is one life experience you have that voters should know about?
During the 2020 election cycle I stood up for the rights of all voters, managing the process at the Convention Center. I oversaw hundreds of temporary and permanent staff to ensure that all valid votes cast by eligible voters were counted while simultaneously liaising with authorized canvass observers, candidates, and the press. Because I withstood attempts to stop the counting of ballots at the Convention Center I was harassed/threatened and my wife and children needed police protection while I continued counting ballots of Philadelphia voters.
What would be your top three policy priorities in office?
1. Continue working with community partners to expand the language access program that I instituted last year, with unanimous support from my colleagues. This program tripled the number of languages supported by the Commissioners’ Office.
2. Continue to improve transparency around elections by making more records and information available to the public on our website and via Open Data Philly.
3. Continue to ensure secure and transparent election operations by cleaning up our voter rolls, better training election workers, investigate potential election law violations, and make vote tabulation and results more transparent.
What sets you apart from other candidates?
I have lived in Philadelphia my entire life. I graduated from Central High School and went to Penn for both undergrad and grad school. I currently serve as City Commissioner, one of three members of the Philadelphia Board of Elections. Prior to serving as Commissioner, I was Chief Deputy Commissioner for Al Schmidt. I am a nationally respected election administrator, serving as a member of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Task Force on Elections. I have more than a decade of experience serving Philadelphia voters, ensuring our elections remain fair, secure, and accessible.
How do you plan to work across ideological lines to achieve shared goals?
I have worked alongside my Democratic colleagues to manage Philadelphia’s elections for the past eleven years. I also serve on the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Task Force on Elections, and have already been invited to continue on this task force. My record of working across ideological lines is one of the reasons I earned the 2022 Defender of Democracy Award from the Center for Election Innovation and Research. I have always provided resources and information to any constituent regardless of party affiliation or which candidate they support.
The Committee of Seventy has partnered with the Carter Center to promote the Candidate Principles for Trusted Elections to improve the voting process, encourage honest leadership, and promote civic engagement. Do you support the Candidate Principles?
Yes
