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Don’t discount the importance of local elections to our lives

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On May 18, we will have the opportunity to vote in the Municipal Primary. This primary and the general election on Nov. 2, are significant elections for voters, but many people fail to participate in municipal elections because they don’t understand the impact the offices on the ballot have on our lives or know anything about the candidates.

The League of Women Voters of Bucks County, in collaboration with the Bucks County Herald, would like to remedy that situation.

On May 6, the Herald will publish the LWV Voters Guide with information about many races and candidates. This year there are 572 candidates running in 304 races in Bucks County alone, so there will be insufficient room to print long answers from every candidate. However, responses from every candidate who submitted one will be included on the League’s election information website: Vote411.org. Here you can enter your address and see just those candidates who will be on your ballot.

Note that in a primary, candidates for school board, county judicial courts, and district magistrate courts can cross-file, which means that they can run in both the Republican and Democratic primary races. This is allowed because these positions are considered to be not political, or at least less political than other positions being voted upon.

So what offices are on the ballot and why are they so important?

School Board Directors. Whether or not you currently have children in school, the taxes you pay, and the quality of education being provided to the children of Bucks County have an impact on our community. Three quarters of our property taxes are dedicated to schools and we should know the priorities of the people spending that money.

School directors not only oversee the school properties and hire the school superintendents, principals, teachers and staff but also set policy for the district. School directors recommend and adopt textbooks and programs and they can influence whether history is taught from a Eurocentric point of view or a global perspective, whether or not topics such as climate change and evolution are part of the science curriculum. All of these decisions will affect our community as a whole.

Borough and Township Officers. Your local legislators – mayors, council members or township supervisors – make decisions affecting your local community. They enact ordinances, adopt budgets, levy taxes, maintain infrastructure, oversee police and fire services and enforce environmental protection. Other elected municipal positions, such as tax collectors, auditors and constables provide valuable services for their communities.


County Row Officers. This year five Row Offices are on the ballot: the District Attorney, the County Sheriff, the Controller, the Prothonotary and the Recorder of Deeds. All of these officers play important roles in the functioning of the county. The DA decides whether to bring criminal charges against arrested people and then prosecutes these cases in court. They also create and oversee public safety programs. The County Sheriff is the highest level of law enforcement in the County, enforcing the laws and carrying out various Court duties, while the other Row Officers conduct various fiscal and administrative duties within the county. Descriptions of each office will be provided in the Voters Guide and on vote411.org.

Judicial Offices. There are judges at every level of the judiciary on the ballot this year, including the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the two intermediate state Appellate Courts (Commonwealth and Superior) and the local courts (Courts of Common Pleas and Magisterial District Courts). For an excellent description of the differences between these courts, see pacourts.us/learn/judicial-system-educational-video.

Clearly our judges affect our lives in many ways, from adjudicating traffic tickets to tenant-landlord disputes to criminal cases at the local level, up to the higher courts, which hear appeals and make decisions regarding the constitutionality of laws passed by the legislature. Candidate debate videos for each of the superior court races can also be found on Vote411.

In addition to the election of candidates for these state, county and local offices, there will be four ballot questions for voters to consider, three of which would amend the state Constitution and one, which is a referendum. Note that while only registered Republicans or Democrats can vote for candidates in the primary election, ALL voters can vote for the ballot measures.

For nonpartisan descriptions of these issues including the pros and cons of voting for each of them, see the Voters Guide on Vote411.

The League of Women Voters of Bucks County urges you to participate in this important election on May 18.

Jean Weston and Monica Weninger,
Co-Presidents of the League of Women Voters of Bucks County


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