TURN THE SUPERIOR COURT BLUE

Vote for Democrats Amanda Green-Hawkins and Dan McCaffery on Nov 5

In the upcoming election, most of the local focus will be on the municipal races – but there is an important statewide race on the ballot as well. Democrats Amanda Green-Hawkins and Judge Dan McCaffery are running for judgeships on the Pennsylvania Superior Court, and it is critically important that we vote them into office on November 5.
The Superior Court plays an important role in the way laws are enforced and interpreted throughout the Commonwealth. As one of Pennsylvania’s three appellate courts, its written precedential opinions are binding law throughout Pennsylvania. In just the past several months, it has issued decisions regarding the state consumer protection law, sentencing reform, and tax laws affecting millions of Pennsylvanians. As the busiest appellate court in the United States, it hears more than 8,000 appeals per year.

The composition of the Court matters. With the current makeup of seven Republicans, six Democrats, and two vacancies, this election presents an opportunity to flip the Court to a Democrat majority. This could lead to opinions granting stronger protections for consumers, expanded rights for workers, and greenlighting progressive tax policies.

We needn’t look too far back to see how much courts matter. Just recently, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered the redrawing of the state’s Congressional districts after finding the old gerrymandered maps violated the state constitution. This decision would not have been possible without the election, in 2015, of three new Democrats to the Court, giving them a 5-2 majority. But most cases don’t reach the Supreme Court – instead, they end in an appeal at the Superior Court.

By George Donnelly, Committee Person Div. 13
Assistant Treasurer, Second Ward Democrats

COULD A THIRD PARTY CANDIDATE WIN A SEAT ON COUNCIL?

There are seven independent or third party candidates running for one of Philadelphia’s seven At-Large seats. With the near certain outcome that the five winners in the Democratic Party will win five of the seven seats, local media coverage of this race has focused largely on the interesting possibility that one (or two) of these independent or third party candidates could receive more votes than the leading Republican (or both of them), which would result in the Republicans losing one (or both) of the two seats they have held since 1952 – a dramatic shift in the balance of power in City Council.

Here’s how this works: the Philadelphia’s Home Rule Charter created seven At-Large seats, but only allows political parties to nominate five candidates, and only allows voters to cast five votes. With the enormous registration advantage Democrats hold in the city, this has meant in practice five elected Democrats and two elected Republicans to At-Large seats since the charter was enacted. Recently though, independent voter registrations are up, Republican registrations are down, and the vote totals have been trending every four years toward the historic possibility of an independent or third party candidate winning one of these seats.

There are essentially three paths to victory for one of these candidates: enough independent voters show up and massively support one or two candidates; Republicans perform incredibly poorly (which is unlikely given their stable base); or a significant number of registered Democratic voters join with independents and cast a vote for a third party candidate in lieu of one of the five Democratic nominees. In 2015, the Democrat with the lowest vote total was elected with over 137,000 votes while the Republican with the highest vote total was elected with less than 35,000.

This could be the year of the tipping point: some third party candidates join the race with existing networks, a knowledge of canvassing and organizing, and endorsements from progressive labor organizations, neighborhood groups, and elected Democratic leaders. A victory for any of these progressive third party candidates could lead to a deciding vote on ending the tax abatement, increasing school funding, introducing Council term limits, and other reforms that have been introduced by Democratic Councilmembers.

By Chris Shelley,
Committee Person Div. 6

The City Commissioner’s office notified the 2nd Ward this summer that it was redrawing the boundary lines for divisions 15, 16, 25, 26 and 27 and creating two new divisions, Division 28 and Division 29. All these divisions fall within Queen Village. (You may have seen the multipage announcements stapled to telephone poles throughout the neighborhood mid-summer.)

The City Commissioner’s office oversees all elections and voter registration in the city. When the number of registered voters in any one division exceeds a threshold of roughly 2,000 voters, the Commissioners create new divisions. This is a normal process that happens regularly in places that experience rapid population growth. Both the 5th Ward (Society Hill/Old City/Northern Liberties) and the 8th Ward (Center City), for example, also had divisions added this election cycle.

The City Commissioner’s office plans to mail registered voters affected by these changes a notification of their division and polling place shortly before the election. To verify your division and find out where your polling place is, check the City Commissioner’s website at tinyurl.com/2ndwardpolls or contact the Philadelphia Voter Registration Office at 215-686-1590.

By Colleen Puckett, Committee Person Div. 29
Third Vice Chair, Second Ward Democrats