The irony of “off-year” elections – when neither governorships nor presidencies are in the hands of the voters – is that they are the elections most likely to have a direct impact on our lives.
The people elected in these election cycles, township supervisors or commissioners, borough council members, and most particularly school board members, are the ones most likely to levy the taxes we feel most deeply; enact the laws that effect us most directly and debate the policies that will have the deepest impact on our children’s future.
Paradoxically, they are also the elections that attract the least voter interest and, unfortunately, they are also, for those news organizations which have to cover them, the most arduous given that there are nearly 100 races and hundreds of potential candidate interviews – literally.
By our count, there are 87 races for elected policy positions in our coverage area this year – and that’s not counting local district judges or county judges. Of those races, 47 are contests – which is about 54 percent – and the rest feature candidates running unopposed.
We also counted 232 potential candidate interviews.
Because we want our readers to be informed of the races in their jurisdiction, we have created a special election page on The Mercury’s web site – http://pottstownmercury.wixsite.com/tricountyelections – where you can find out who is running for which office in your school district, township or borough; what party nominated them; who is an incumbent; and who is opposed and who isn’t.
You can also get information about filing absentee ballots.
And, to give each of the candidates in contested races an equal opportunity at news coverage, we have created a simple questionnaire that we will use in our coverage in the order in which responses are received.
Candidates can fill it out here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KRCPFZZ
(In fact, one candidate – Perkiomen Valley School Board president Richard Bouher – already has.)
The deadline for responding is Oct. 23 and all who respond by then will have their responses included. After that, we will include what we can but make no promises.
So candidates, fill out the questionnaire. It doesn’t take long.
Voters, check out our election web page, which will continue to be updated with the latest updates, poll locations and answers about what to do if you have trouble voting.
And don’t forget to vote Tuesday, Nov. 7.
