Frances Borman, 71, has lived in Fishtown for more than 30 years. She has six children, fifteen grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Her father once owned a pet shop at the intersection of Frankford and Susquehanna, and Borman brags that a young Sylvester Stallone would come to the shop to see her as a girl, perhaps becoming the inspiration for Adrian in “Rocky”.

  Borman also cares deeply about her community, state and country. She has never missed out on voting in any election, presidential or local.

  “It’s my God-given right to vote,” Borman stated emphatically, while sitting in the comfort of her home on Sepviva Street. Her living room is decorated with portraits of loved ones and two of her long-time muses, Elvis Presley and Rocky Balboa.

  But this election proved to be the most challenging contest of all for Borman to exercise her right to vote. Over the past 15 years or so, Borman’s health has been steadily declining. She has diabetes, early onset Parkinson’s, and lyme disease that led to severe arthritis. Over this same period, Borman has suffered through three different traumatic car accidents.

  “10 years ago, the doctors did not realize how bad the arthritis was. I have three different types,” Borman stated. “The doctors told me, ‘you have the body of an 85 year old [when I was 61]. How do you keep going? No wonder you are in so much pain.’”

  These days, Borman has serious difficulty walking. For the most part, she uses both a handicapped scooter and crutches to get around. These debilitating circumstances have left Borman with little option but to vote using an absentee ballot in last year’s mayoral election and in the 2016 Presidential Election.

  Twenty days before Election Day she called her City Council representative Mark Squilla for help in getting an absentee ballot. According to Borman, a representative at the councilman’s office told her not to worry — if she applied for an absentee ballot she would receive one. According to Squilla, the city started sending out absentee ballots as early as October 8th and finished sending them out by no later than October 28th.

  Fast forward to ten days before the election and Borman still hadn’t received her ballot. She began to worry and once again called Squilla’s office for help. “The woman I talked to there said if you don’t get it in a few days call me back,” Borman recalled.

  Councilman Squilla says his office helps a number of people ensure they obtain their absentee ballots in every election.

  “Our office always works very hard to ensure that everyone in our district who needs an absentee ballot receives one,” Squilla said.

  Councilman Squilla stated that, to the best of his knowledge, his office received about 25 absentee ballot calls from confused or worried people in his district looking to get their ballot. According to Philadelphia City Election Commission, there were 17,000 absentee ballots sent out city wide this year and about 14,000 came back mailed in as votes.

  In addition to calling the councilman’s office ten and twenty days before the election, Borman called a 311 operator who put her through to a person at the Philadelphia City Commissioners Office. The problem Borman confronted could potentially be described as one of typical government bureaucracy.

  “The Election Commission told me I had to fill paperwork again to get an absentee ballot for this election even though I had already voted absentee in the last (mayoral) election,” Borman said. “But when I called Squilla’s office ten days before the election a woman there told me not to worry and that we filled the papers out. You also had your ballot before when you voted (in the mayoral election.) But I just had a feeling…”

  When asked about the situation, Squilla wanted to clear the air for everyone looking to sign up for an absentee ballot. “You have to apply for an absentee in every single election in order to receive an absentee,” Squilla said. In other words absentee ballot applications do not transfer over to the next election.

  Regardless of the reasons for why Borman did not receive her ballot, she felt more stressed and frantic by the day as the election loomed near.

  “I was crying,” Borman said. “I have to vote in this election, but I can’t get out of my house, I can’t walk that far anymore.”

  Even still, when election day came Borman pressed on. She was absolutely determined to vote in the 2016 election, come hell or high water. So she willed herself towards the front door of her house, attempting to grab parts of her disassembled handicapped scooter to take with her to set up properly once she got outside.

  “I layed down and dropped the scooter parts by the sidewalk along the steps,” Borman said, while recounting the story in great detail. “I pulled myself up by the railing as I was walking outside the door of my house by the steps, crying in pain. I was saying to myself I’m voting in this election, God just help give me the will.”

  As she made her attempt to get to the polling station on her own, her son in law showed up outside her door.

  “My son-in-law, Bob Ryley, shouts at me, ‘Frannie, you are going to kill yourself doing that.’ (Frances, Borman’s daughter) made me come over because she said you wouldn’t answer the phone no more, we thought you had already gone to the polling station,” Borman said, reenacting the scene while sitting in her living room a few days later.

  After receiving some help from her son-in-law in getting out of the house and assembling her scooter, Borman made her way to the local polling station, Hackett Horatio B. School. She got there around 7PM, about an hour before the polls were set to close.

  When she arrived, Borman was once again confronted with yet another obstacle: The handicap door to the building was closed and poll workers at the school were unable to find a member of the custodial staff to open it. But this didn’t stop her.

  As this Spirit News reporter witnessed, those working at the polls that night did everything they could to ensure that this 71-year old Fishtown grandmother of 15 would in fact cast her ballot. One of the poll workers helped her fill out a form to cast her vote.

  “I have seen her come and vote as long as I have been here… 27 years,” Theresa Kilian, the Local Judge of Elections at the Hackett School said. “She is a good hearted person, and I don’t want anyone stressed over voting. Everyone should be able to vote, and I mean everyone.”

  Councilman Squilla praised Borman for her perseverance and spirit, while at the same time offering up some insight to insure that anyone can vote absentee if need be.

  “It’s great that she was able to do that, but unfortunately not everyone is in that position to have help in getting to a polling place. So we have to make sure we do this right,” Squilla said. “To avoid these kinds of situations people should file the paperwork for an absentee ballot early, and then follow up to make sure the election commissioner’s office has it.”

  Borman though, for the time being, is just overwhelmed with the joy and pride of being able to cast her vote.

  “You have to believe in the good in people, even though my daughter cautions me saying, ‘you always believe that and then you get taken advantage of sometimes,’” Borman said. “ But we are all human beings and we have to have compassion and understanding, but you have a right to vote.” •