Election Day is a big day in Philadelphia with regards to the mayoral race, but with all of the hustle and bustle of that race many Philadelphians have forgotten about the statewide judicial races. These races focused mainly on the election of two new Justices of the Supreme Court, Superior Court judges, and Commonwealth Court judges.
Of all of the candidates in these races, three are native Philadelphians including: Seamus McCaffery for Justice of the Supreme Court, John Milton Younge for Judge of the Superior Court, and Doris A. Smith-Ribner, up for retention for Judge of the Commonwealth Court. When I went out to ask voters in Philadelphia about their views on the judge race I anticipated much support for the Philadelphians running in the race. I quickly found that that was not true.
(At the request of those who were interviewed, only first names or initials will be used to identify them.)
“The Philadelphia judicial system is the pits so a candidate being from Philadelphia doesn’t influence my decision,” said Mardella, a North Philadelphia resident.
I found that many did not know much about the judge race or simply did not care.
“A few people that voted so far today did not know anything about the race for judge,” a voter and volunteer who went simply by “CRR” said.
Another poll worker who would not disclose his name said, “The judges running all know what they are doing so it doesn’t matter as long as Nutter is mayor.” He went on to say, "the voters know what they are doing…they are all smart people.”
“I voted all females for the judge race, because it is something different,” said one man who went by Eric, “and the only thing that I am concerned about is the mayoral race.”
Mardella seemed to be one of the few more compassionate voters who actually cared about the turnout of the judicial race with concerns regarding her children.
“The judge race is very important to me because they have the power to send our children to jail,” she said, “I want judges who know what they are doing and voters need to research to find someone to vote for who is going to do something for everyone.”
With her concerns for the race she did not seem satisfied with any of the contenders as she also added, “Can we get new people to run?”
“CRR”, the poll volunteer had some other aspects concerning her decision.
“The judge for Superior Court is the most important one to me,” she said, “Being black and there being only two black people running for Superior Court, I want them elected.”
A visit from John Milton Younge today at her polling station also seemed to help her in her decision, “He(Younge) spoke with me today and influenced me to vote for him and him being from Philadelphia also has something to do with my decision,” she said.
Overall, many seem unhappy with the way things have been run in the past. The overall consensus is that as long as Nutter is the mayor everything will be better.
Tiffany Miller is a junior, broadcast journalism major at Temple University. Tiffany focuses on the statewide judicial races attempting to find out how informed voters are about these races and why voters don’t seem to know or care who the people are who make some of the most important decisions affecting their lives. What do people do when they don’t know the candidates? Will they vote their party or vote for some other reasons?
Comments (5)
My God! Why not put up a dart board and elect the judges that way. I am afraid someone as unqualified as Singletary is going to get elected because of his ballot position.
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