Four more years. pic.twitter.com/bAJE6Vom

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) November 7, 2012

The 2012 presidential election is over and president Barack Obama has been re-elected for the 2nd term. Being a strong democratic base, there are no surprises about how West Philly residents voted in this election. Here are some results by wards (click on the links to see ward maps):

Ward 27 (91.30 % precincts completed):

Ward 24 (100% precincts completed):

Ward 46 (100% precincts completed):

Ward 51 (100% precincts completed):

Ward 60 (95.65% precincts completed):

Ward 6 (100% precincts completed):

Ward 44 (100% completed):

Voting seemed to have gotten off to a brisk start this morning, with many polling stations reporting long lines. While this is no reason to start wildly speculating about results in West Philly, it’s at least a good sign.

We will continually update this post throughout the day with bits and pieces of information and observations from around the neighborhoods. Please feel free to write us at editor@westphillylocal.com or tweet us at @westphillylocal with your observations while voting.

Here are some early tweets from this morning:

@WestPhillyLocal @Committeeof70 FYI I was required to show ID because “new voters to a district are required to show ID”

— Abhi (@AbsorbingStates) November 6, 2012

@WestPhillyLocal 36th and Locust opened 37 minutes late because the judge of elections didn't get here on time.

— Jonathan Tannenwald (@jtannenwald) November 6, 2012

https://twitter.com/mabege/status/265808077478035456

@WestPhillyLocal only had to wait about 10 minutes to vote at Kingsessing library. Crowd started to pick up when I left.

— Dan Whang (@called_out) November 6, 2012

@joeldeg @WestPhillyLocal Only polling materials should be inside. Partisan materials must be 10 feet away from polling place door.

— Leah Pillsbury (@maybeleah) November 6, 2012

@WestPhillyLocal voting at the 46/18 meth church around 1130am was smooth and painless

— Ben (suidroot@infosec.exchange) (@suidroot) November 6, 2012

Voting was ezpz! @WestPhillyLocal

— Lauren Foster (@laurenfoste) November 6, 2012

@WestPhillyLocal Waited for exactly 0 minutes at SCHA an hour or so ago.

— Preston Hull (@preston_hull) November 6, 2012

https://twitter.com/estemonte/status/265883665144356865
 

Also – to lighten things up a little – we asked what might be the best way to work “jawn” into an Election Day tweet. @AdamButler got into this. His responses:

https://twitter.com/a_butler/status/265879399075831808

https://twitter.com/a_butler/status/265879508253569024

https://twitter.com/a_butler/status/265879508253569024

Cedar Park residents are invited to a special fall membership meeting this Thursday, Nov. 8, that will be held at the Calvary Center for Culture & Community at 48th and Baltimore, beginning at 7 p.m.

The preliminary results of the survey conducted by the Cedar Park Neighbors (CPN) community association will be released at the meeting. This fall, the Philadelphia City Planning Commission is creating a new plan for the neighborhood and over the past few months CPN has surveyed over 500 community members to find out what’s important about living in Cedar Park.

Representatives from several new shops and restaurants in the area have also been invited to talk about their businesses at the meeting.

You don’t have to be a member of Cedar Park Neighbors to attend, but there will be an opportunity to join.

For more information, email: contact@cedarparkneighbors.org or call 267-531-4147.

This young male cat followed our reader, Tekla, home from the area of 44th and Pine on Saturday morning. If this is your cat, please email Tekla at: teklalb@gmail.com.

Former President Bill Clinton is scheduled to speak at a rally of Obama-Biden supporters and volunteers at the Palestra Arena at the University of Pennsylvania (215 S. 33rd St.) this afternoon as part of his final campaign swing through Pennsylvania on behalf of the Democratic ticket. The rally begins at 4 p.m. and Penn Public Safety has issued a heavy traffic advisory in this area from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

If you’re interested in attending this rally, tickets are available online here.

The votes have been tallied and the judges have made their decisions. You, the community, voted for the Reader’s Choice and an esteemed panel of judges picked the winners in the other categories. So here we go.

The Reader’s Choice winner is Nate Johnson and his remarkable Edgar Allan Poe pumpkin, which received 100 of the 283 total votes cast. Congrats Nate! You win our main prize package – a gift card from Sabrina’s Cafe ($40), a gift card from Four Worlds Bakery ($30), a copy of BATMAN: The Long Halloween from Locust Moon Comics, and a prize from Penn Museum (two general passes to the Museum + a MAYA 2012 t-shirt + a copy of the latest issue of Expedition Magazine).

The Kids Category winner is Nadia Salamon and her Starry pumpkin. Nadia is only 4 1/2 years old and we were blown away by her non-traditional approach to pumpkin carving. She didn’t want to do a Jack-O-Lantern with a face but wanted one big star on each side and little stars around it! Very cool! Nadia wins a gift card from Lil’ Pop Shop ($30) and a gift card from Four Worlds Bakery ($30).

The Funniest category winner is Ellis M. Mumford and her Grumpy Cat pumpkin. Good job, Ellis, on using one of the most popular memes these days! Ellis wins a Green Line Cafe gift card ($20) and a goodie basket from Mariposa Food Co-op.

The Philly-themed category winner is Katrine Lvovskaya and her Zombie Ben Franklin pumpkin. Nice work, Katrine! You and Ben Franklin win a gift certificate from Honest Tom’s Taco Shop ($20) and two Curio Theatre tickets.

Finally, the Scariest category winner is Bimal Desai (our last year’s Reader’s Choice winner, by the way) and his “Halloween 1982” pumpkin featuring Michael Jackson from the “Thriller” video. Bimal’s pumpkin also finished second in our Reader’s Choice voting with 78 votes cast for it. Bimal wins a gift card from Dock Street Brewery ($20) and a gift card from VIX Emporium ($20).

Congratulations to all the winners! We’ll be contacting you shortly about your prize delivery. And thank you to all who participated in this contest! We loved all your pumpkins, but there had to be only five winners. Who knows, you could be a winner next time.