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You Need to Pay Attention to This Year’s Pennsylvania Elections

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There is a lot going on this year in Pennsylvania’s elections. Locally we have 4 school board seats on the ballot which should be of interest to everyone in North East, but statewide there’s a lot to focus on, too. You will have a vote on whether or not to retain three Supreme Court Justices, all Democrats, on a court which is currently lopsided with a 5 to 2 Democrat majority. When our last Governor, Tom Wolf was challenged on any matter, he was quick to take it to the Supreme Court to “let the court decide.” Of course he was, because of the Democrat majority, he would win, often with a party line vote. This year is an opportunity to fix that.

PA Supreme Court justices are politically affiliated

Pennsylvania is one of seven states that selects justices for the supreme court with a partisan election. The Pennsylvania court has 7 justices. Candidates are affiliated with a political party and appear on the ballot like any other candidate for office. It is the rare voter who knows anything about those candidates or their previous legal record. The current court has 5 democrats and 2 republicans on the bench. In an ideal world, a justice, once seated, evaluates each case on its merits with absolute impartiality and adheres to the law, … in an ideal world. Political affiliation doesn’t shouldn’t matter.

We’ll be talking a lot more about the primary and general elections this year as we get closer to May and November, but it’s important not to tune them out. These elections will have a major effect on you and me, sometimes more so than the national elections that get all of the coverage.

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Comments

  1. All of these races are very important! Get informed on all of the Candidates in all races. There is nothing more dangerous than an uninformed voter.

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