HARRISBURG — When you go to the polls or fill out your mail ballot for the May 20 primary election, you’ll see a slew of local candidates with a lot of direct power over your daily life.
While these officials help determine the taxes you pay and how the criminal justice system treats you, it can be difficult to find good information about them during election season. Spotlight PA has some tips to make the vetting process easier.
Along with statewide races for Pennsylvania’s appellatecourts, this year’s primary will also feature elections for school boards, mayorships, councils, local judgeships, and more. Exactly which races you see on your ballot will depend on where you live.
Pennsylvania has a closed, partisan primary system. Only Democrats vote to determine which Democratic candidates move to the November general election. The same rule applies to Republican voters.
However, all voters, including those who are unaffiliated or who are registered to a third party, can vote on local ballot initiatives.
That’s why it’s important to check a sample ballot or contact your county about what’s on your ballot ahead of Election Day.
Here are some steps you can take to prepare for May 20:
What do these officials do?
The exact positions on your ballot will vary based on where you live.
Some jurisdictions, such as Pittsburgh, will hold mayoral elections this year. Mayors’ powers differ from municipality to municipality, but they generally make big decisions about how to spend money and run services.
Also on some ballots will be council members, township commissioners, and supervisors, who decide local tax rates, land use policy, and other quality-of-life issues. Other offices, such as tax collectors and auditors, will also be up for election.
A handful of places may also have countywide races for some executive or legislative offices, such as the Lehigh County executive.
Some of the most influential offices up for election this year involve the criminal justice system, such as constables, local judges, and district attorneys. Among other duties, the latter are responsible for prosecuting people who are arrested.
Local judgeships fall into two main categories. Magisterial district judges, sometimes called the “frontline” of the state’s justice system, issue arrest and search warrants, approve protection from abuse orders, oversee evictions, set bail, and can officiate weddings.
Candidates do not have to be lawyers to hold the position; however, those elected are required to take four weeks of training and pass an exam. They are elected to six-year terms, and face an opponent for reelection rather than a yes-or-no vote.
Then, there are Common Pleas judges, who are elected by district, of which there are 60. Some districts contain multiple counties. You can find a full list of counties by judicial district here.
Thirty-six counties have an open Common Pleas judgeship on the ballot this year, according to Pennsylvania Department of State records.
These judges must be admitted to the state bar and are the first rung in most civil and criminal trials. They serve 10-year terms before running in nonpartisan retention elections.
Find who is on your ballot
To learn who is on the ballot, you should check with your county election office (see a list here).
Some counties, such as Allegheny, Lancaster, and York, publish sample ballots, although those may not be available until three to five weeks before the election. (Googling “[county name] sample ballot” or “Pennsylvania sample ballot” is a solid start.)
BallotReady and the League of Women Voters’ Vote411 initiative also provide sample ballots based on address, though they don’t always include downballot races such as ones for school board.
Learn the basics
Use candidates’ names and a search engine to learn more about them. Campaign websites usually provide background on a candidate, list their platform, and detail endorsements they’ve received.
Social media accounts sometimes give a more personal look into a candidate’s views, and explain why they’re running for office and what policies they plan to support. To find a social media account, search for a candidate’s name plus a social media platform by typing a phrase such as “Jane Smith Twitter” or “Jane Smith Facebook.”
News articles can offer you a more in-depth look at a candidate, detail how a community perceives them, and raise any potential red flags about the candidate’s beliefs or affiliations. But it’s important to vet the trustworthiness and accuracy of the news source.
To learn how to vet your sources, read this guide to spotting false information by Cornell University, and this guide to analyzing a news source by Melissa Zimdars, a communications professor who researches misinformation.
Check out endorsements
Figuring out which candidates align with you on key topics is difficult. Interest groups such as gun rights organizations and unions try to cut through this uncertainty with endorsements. Candidates will usually prominently display them.
Endorsements from interest groups are even more critical in judicial races. State law bars candidates for the bench from taking public stances on policy issues, as they are expected to provide impartial judgment on cases before them. So their remarks and statements might not be helpful when you’re trying to figure out how they’ll rule.
You can also learn about a judicial candidate’s legal qualifications through local bar associations. These groups sometimes offer recommendations on their county’s Common Pleas candidates, either through a special committee or by polling their members on the candidates and their qualifications.
Bar association recommendations will sometimes also look over each candidate’s resume and provide a short summary of their ability to handle the job. Usually, bars will offer three different ratings: highly recommended, recommended, or not recommended.
However, some candidates who aren’t recommended argue that their skills are undervalued by their peers, and jurists who won without a recommendation have gone on to have long, respected careers on the bench, such as former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Saylor.
Below are links to the websites for the bar associations of Pennsylvania counties that Spotlight PA identified as offering recommendations. It’s not an exhaustive list, so check Google if your county isn’t listed. (Your county may also not have any Common Pleas judges on the ballot.) Spotlight PA will also update this list as it becomes aware of further recommendations.
Following the money will take even more work, but it’s just as important. Donations from political committees, other organizations, or even individuals can indicate who influences the candidate, and the policies they might support once elected.
All of this information is available to you — in theory.
The Federal Election Commission website and platforms such as OpenSecrets allow you to search for donations to federal campaigns. In Pennsylvania, state-level candidates (including Common Pleas judges) file their campaign finance information with the Department of State, which lists those reports online. The best way to find a candidate's committee is to search by last name.
Candidates for local positions like mayor or school board have to file financial reports too, but they file with only the county election office. So there’s no central, statewide database for filings, and not all counties allow voters to easily access this information.
A few counties, such as Allegheny, Erie, and Philadelphia, post this information online, while others only allow people to view it in person.
If the records you seek are not accessible online, you can contact the county election office. If they’re accessible only in person, you will have to take time out of your day to visit the election office and review the documents.
Candidates for state offices, like judges, also have to file forms with the state Ethics Commission that list any gifts, businesses, and other sources of income. You can search for those here.
