One of the best things an adult can do to show their civic pride, to show that they are glad to live in America, and to demonstrate that they care about the future of our nation, is to vote. If you participate in the political process by voting every Spring–during the Primary Election and by voting every Fall (always in November, during the general election), then you are performing a great civic duty. That’s what grown folk do. They go vote.
As some of you are reading this Civics Column this week, you may already have handled your business, voting by mail. Good for you. Congratulations! But your work still isn’t over. Even if you already voted, don’t get quiet now. Talk to your friends, your neighbors, and all your family members who are registered voters, and remind them how pivotal this election year is for us in Philadelphia. The reality is that whoever wins the Democratic Primary for Mayor more than likely will be sworn in as the next Mayor of Philadelphia in January 2024. If you are still sitting on the fence of indecision about who you want to give your votes to, take another look now.
While I certainly have my own opinions and have now decided who I’m giving my votes, I dare not tell our SCOOP Readers what to do. That is your prerogative. The SCOOP Newspaper does not endorse political candidates. We write about you. We talk about you. We interview those who make themselves available to SCOOP writers. However, we do not endorse candidates.
That decision is up to you. If you’re still teetering between candidates A, B, C, or D, look again. Go back to their websites. You can log on to almost any local TV station website and type in Mayoral Candidates Forum, and one of the 500 forums that have been held will pop up for you to review. (I am exaggerating that number, but there have been a lot of Mayoral candidate forums and other candidates’ forums as well). See how the candidates handle themselves when being drilled by media representatives or people from the community who got to ask questions.
Let me remind you what is at stake in the upcoming, Tuesday, May 16th, Primary Election.
We have to vote on who will be the Democratic Candidate for Mayor to face off against Republican David Oh in the Fall November General Election Tuesday, November 7, 2023.
We have to decide who will be the candidates for City Council with 17 seats available.
We have to decide who will be our next Sheriff. Will Rochelle Bilal remain in office, or will one of her two opponents beat her? Her opponents are Michael Untermeyer and Jackie L. Miles.
We have to decide who the candidate will be for City Controller on the Democratic side. We have three candidates running for the seat, Christy Brady, Alexandra Hunt, and John Thomas.
The Register of Wills office is up for grabs. The incumbent is Tracey Gordon, and she has three opponents running against her, Rae K. Hall and Elizabeth Lowe, and John Sabatina, Esq.
For City Commissioner, there are three seats up forgrabs. There are three incumbents running for those seats, and they have no opponents.
There are ten seats up for grabs in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas and two seats up for grabs in Philadelphia’s Municipal Court.
There are also two statewide judicial races that are critical; there’s a seat open on PA Supreme Court and there’s a seat open on PA Superior Court.
There are also four charter change-related questions that will be on the ballot.
**********
Thank you for reading Thera Martin’s article on scoopnewsusa.com. For more on “CIVICS 101”, please subscribe to SCOOP USA Media. Print subscriptions are $75 and online subscriptions (Print, Digital, and VIZION) are $90. (52 weeks / 1 year).
