Conservative Overview of the 2016 Pennsylvania General Election

           In addition to the election for Presidential and vice presidential electors, Pennsylvanians will be electing candidates for several other important offices on Tuesday, November 8.  There are conservatives on the ballot for most of these offices.  Some of the contests are especially close.

            Pennsylvania will be represented by 20 of the 538 presidential and vice presidential Electors who collectively comprise the Electoral College.  The candidates for Elector are chosen by political parties and are not named on the ballot.  Instead, the parties’ presidential and vice presidential candidates are named, which misleads the voters into believing that the election is for the presidential and vice presidential ticket, instead of for a slate of Electors.  Under the Commonwealth’s election law, all of a party or candidate’s slate of Electors are elected if their ticket receives the most votes.  I explained the history and original representative purpose of the Electoral College in my last post.

            This year, neither of the two major American parties nominated a conservative for President of the United States.  Alas, the usually-conservative Republican Party nominated someone who, in addition to being morally unfit and lacking in experience and knowledge, has no reverence for the Founding Fathers and the Constitution, but instead has authoritarian proclivities, is nativist and isolationist and supports the dictator of the Russian Federation.  I have posted several times about the GOP nominee, Donald Trump. 

Among other options for Pennsylvania conservatives to vote in good conscience, Evan McMullin is registered with the Commonwealth as a write-in candidate, which means that write-in votes for him for President will count for his appointed slate of presidential and vice presidential Electors.  He is bidding to become the first non-major party candidate in 48 years whose Electors are directly elected, as he is surging to the lead in Utah, at least.  If no candidate receives a majority of the votes in the Electoral College, then the House of Representatives elects the President among the three candidates who received the most electoral votes, voting by state delegation.  In addition to demonstrating a separation from conservatism and Trump and discouraging the Republican Party from nominating someone who does not represent its conservative platform, a large total of votes for the former Central Intelligence Agency operative who fought terrorists might help to persuade Pennsylvania’s Electors or those of others States to vote for McMullin instead of the Republican nominee.  As Republicans are expected to retain a majority, or at least plurality (as some States would be equally divided), of state delegations in the House, they may decide to vote for McMullin, who was the former policy director of the U.S. House Republican Caucus.

            As one third of the seats of the U.S. Senate and every seat in the House of Representatives is up for election in this General Election, Pennsylvanians will be voting for one Senator and all 18 Representatives.  Conservative, pro-life, pro-right-to-keep-and-bear-arms Republican Senator Pat Toomey is the upper chamber of Congress’ leading fiscal expert and advocate against wasteful spending.  He has strongly opposed President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with the terrorist-sponsoring Iranian regime.  Toomey’s opponent is his political opposite.  The Democrats and liberal groups have targeted him for defeat because elections are usually close in Pennsylvania and party control of the Senate may depend upon the outcome of the Keystone State’s choice in this election, which has become the most expensive in the Union.  There are at least relatively conservative Republican candidates for most of Pennsylvania’s U.S. House seats.  It is critical that conservative Republicans be elected to both chambers of Congress in order for the GOP to retain their majorities, which allows them to set the agenda, and to be a check on the next possibly liberal Democratic President, as they have been effectively doing for the last eight years.

            The offices of Pennsylvania Attorney General, Auditor General and Treasurer are on the ballot statewide.  There are conservative Republican candidates for each.  After Attorney liberal Democratic General Kathleen Kane, who had been worked in the administration of former U.S. President Bill Clinton, resigned and was convicted of perjury, it is essential to restore integrity to that office.

            For Pennsylvania’s state legislature, the General Assembly, candidates for half the seats in the Senate and all of the seats in the Houses of Representatives will be elected.  It is necessary for conservative Republicans to retain their majorities in both chambers, where they have been successful in blocking liberal Democratic Governor Tom Wolf’s tax increases, among other significant accomplishments.  Although these offices are at the bottom of the ballot, because state legislators directly affect citizens in numerous ways, these offices are by no means of least importance.

            In addition to offices, there is a statewide ballot question about which Pennsylvanians will be voting.  There is a state constitutional referendum to increase the mandatory retirement age for judges from 70 to 75 years.  

           The polls in Pennsylvania are open from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM.  Pennsylvanians, make plans today to vote on Tuesday for conservative candidates.