The 2015 Pennsylvania Primary Elections

           Tuesday, May 19 is Primary Election Day in Pennsylvania.  There are statewide, as well as county, municipal and school board offices on the ballot across the Commonwealth of interest to conservatives, as well as to all citizens.

            Statewide, there are contests for the major parties’ nominations for state Supreme, Superior and Commonwealth Courts.  There are county offices on the ballot in each county.  In Berks County, there is a race for the nomination for three seats on the bench of the Court of Common Pleas, in which candidates are permitted to cross-file to have their names on the ballot of both the Democratic and Republican Parties, as well as for county commissioner and several county row offices.  Locally, there are contests across the Keystone State for a third of the districts for magisterial district judge and for all constable districts. 

            A major focus on the “municipal” primary elections is, of course, municipal elections, such as for mayor of numerous Pennsylvania cities, including Reading, and boroughs, city and borough councils and other municipal offices, as well as township commissioners or supervisors and other township offices.  Some municipalities have referenda on the ballot. 

There are also nomination contests for the boards of directors in each of the Commonwealth’s 501 school districts, including in the Reading School District, where I am cross-filed on both major ballots.  In Reading, there are five seats on the School Board for four-year terms, as well as a special primary election for a two-year seat to fill a vacancy. 

These county and other local offices affect citizens most directly in numerous ways.  As one’s vote counts more proportionately in local than in statewide elections, especially considering that far fewer voters vote in primary elections.

            Only registered members of the parties conducting primary elections, the Democratic and Republican Parties, are permitted to cast ballots in primaries in Pennsylvania.   

           Be sure to vote in the Pennsylvania Primary Elections on Tuesday!