Election Day is upon us once again, Philadelphia holds its Municipal Election today alongside mostly local elections country wide, there are only five states with major statewide elections on odd years. Polls opened at 7am and will stay open until 8pm tonight.
Temple Update will bring you Election Night coverage starting at 8pm. Lo Último will bring you Spanish language Election coverage at 8:30pm. You can stay with us live as election night unfolds here, on social and on TUTV.
Voters can find out where their polling place is here. If you’re unsure of your registration status, you can check that here.
Philadelphia’s Mayoral race will be decided once again tonight, Mayor Jim Kenney is being challenged by Republican Billy Ciancaglini. Philadelphia’s home rule charter adopted a two-term limit in 1951, if Kenney wins his bid for Mayor again, it will be his final term. The last time a Republican held the Mayor’s office of Philadelphia was in 1952 with the conclusion of Bernard Samuel’s administration.
All of Philadelphia’s City Council seats will be contested tonight. The ten district seats will be voted on by their constituents while the entire city can cast their votes for the At-Large candidates. Voters can vote for five at-large candidates, of which the top seven will win. Two of the At-Large seats are reserved for a minority party, in Philadelphia, those minority seats have predominantly been held by Republicans, however strong showings from the Working Families Party candidates could cause a toss up for one of those seats.
Pennsylvania voters will find three ballot questions tonight, two are Philadelphia wide and the third is statewide.
Pennsylvania is proposing its Marsy’s Law, which would change the bail and release process. It would take into account the victim when making bail decisions, however its constitutionality is yet to be ruled on. The ACLU believes it to be too vague and thinks it could compromise the rights of the accused. Although its on the ballot tonight, due to a late night Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling yesterday, the vote totals won’t be released until a final ruling on its constitutionality.
One question is a capital bond issue that proposes Philadelphia taking out $185 million to use towards transit, street and sanitation, recreation and museums in addition to community development.
The final question is a proposed change to the city’s home rule charter, it would revise city procurement procedures and thresholds, procurement is the term for governments purchasing products or services from businesses. The threshold for competitive bidding would be raised from $34,000 to 75,000. It would also raise the threshold to $100,000 for any services purchased from local Philadelphia businesses.
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