I'm about to go vote and am in the save voter's dilemma.

Try this site

http://ballotpedia.org/Pennsylvania_judicial_elections,_2015

I refused to vote for any constable!  What a waste of taxpayer money.  It's an old political plum job in PA going way back.  Why is a constable necessary when we also have sheriff's departments? 

With 135/159 districts reporting, it might be a little premature to call some of the County races, but here goes:

COMMISSIONERS:  
It has been a long time coming, but finally Steve Chronister can give his golf game and real estate business his undivided attention.   When he was elected for the first time I was handing out literature for other candidates and can still recall how many elderly women said they were going to vote for Steve because "he has a nice smile".   Maybe that will get him some serious real estate commissions.   At least he'll take them more seriously than his soon-to-be-former employment as a Commissioner.

On the positive:  Doug Hoke's hard work appears to be rewarded, as it should be as he devoted more than his share (yes, he did SC's as well as his own) to the office.   And we are overdue for a woman on the Board:   The Lauxmont Farms debacle was the undoing of Lori Mitrick, and the Board has lacked the perspective of over half of this County's population for too long.  Susan Byrnes will take a good Board to new heights.

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS:

This was the battle of the perennials.    Mike Flannelly had been twice appointed and thrice defeated; probably because as County Solicitor he does his job very well in representing his employer's interests, which don't always agree with the voter's sentiments, especially the Lauxmont Famrs/Highpoint battle.  Last time around, he was contending against an very popular, squeaky-clean former Congressman while bankrolled by Scott Wagner's trash money.   Not so this time around.

That leaves the other two perennial candidates, night and day opposites on the political spectrum.   Despite Prednergast's radio ads that there were "three Republicans" many folks remember that in her first unsuccessful campaign she was a registered Democrat.    How's that for judicial temperment and integrity?   Her claim of being able to serve "a full ten year term" was a slam against Chris Menges, but it was another partial truth. Yes. at this moment, Chris would hit mandatory retirement before the end of the term.   But there is a bill rapidly advancing in the Legislature which would raise the mandatory retirement age by five years which would render this moot.  

Expect to see Katherine make another run in 2017.   I'm not a betting man but I'd wager serious money.

VOTER TURNOUT:

Since I started this commentary a new round of returns have been posted (153/159) and now the voter turnout is at 20.45%, which is about 33% higher than most were predicting.  That is a wonderful thing!  

One week from tomorrow we will honor those who have worn this country's uniforms in defense of our freedoms.   Thankfully 1 out of 5 York County voters honored them today by making a few minutes to exercise that freedom at the polling place.




 

LL,

Yea verily on the split-ticket voters.  Good to see that there are two active and actively supported parties in Bucks.

I've often thought (and occasionally written) that the voters in the City of York face a Sophie's choice in deciding party affiliation.  They can either enroll in the D tribe and have a chance at influencing the City elections with absolutely no influence on the countywide races; or enroll in the R tribe with exactly the inverse influence.   And that choice is not helped by the fact that the Democratic party has essentially conceded all of the County row office races to the other party.   They should offer to pay 100% of the campaign cost for a "sacrificial lamb" to run in those races....who knows, with enough persistence and increasing "name recognition" they might eventually win. 

It worked for Flannelly and Menges.