Global Courant 2023-05-12 22:08:24
A special election in State House District 163 in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, will take place on May 16, 2023. The election will be held after Democrat Mike Zabel was accused of sexual harassment and resigned. Democrat Heather Boyd will run against Republican Katie Ford, a military veteran and behavioral therapist, in the special election. The election will decide which party controls the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives in the coming year.
Voters in suburban Philadelphia will decide Tuesday on party control of the Pennsylvania state House of Representatives with their choice to replace a resigned Democrat.
Pennsylvania also has primary elections scheduled for the state Supreme Court and the mayor of Philadelphia, with the winner of the Democratic primary almost certain to become the city’s next leader in this fall’s general election.
The race with the largest direct effect is the special election in State House District 163 in Delaware County, a suburb of Philadelphia. Democrat Mike Zabel, who won by 32 percentage points in November, resigned after allegations of sexual harassment.
Democrat Heather Boyd, a former aide to Congress and the state legislature, is running against Republican Katie Ford, a military veteran, school volunteer and behavioral therapist, in the special election.
If Ford wins, and if Republicans hold on to a central Pennsylvania seat, as widely expected in a second special election on Tuesday, the chamber will move to GOP control.
BATTLE FOR PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE IS DECIDED BY VOTERS IN FAVOR OF PHILADELPHIA
Nine candidates are running in the Democratic primaries for mayor of Philadelphia, and no one stands out as the obvious frontrunner. Among the top candidates: former city councilors Cherelle Parker, Helen Gym and Allan Domb; ShopRite franchise owner Jeff Brown; and former city comptroller Rebecca Rhynhart.
There are far more Democrats than Republicans in the nation’s sixth-largest city, so Tuesday’s winner will be an overwhelming favorite to win in November.
Democrats and Republicans across the state will also be electing candidates for the state’s Supreme Court.
Here’s a look at what to expect on election night:
Election Day
The polls close at 8 p.m. ET.
A special election for Delaware County voters will decide which party controls the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. The election is scheduled for May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
How Pennsylvania Votes
The Pennsylvania primaries are limited to registered party members.
The AP will declare winners in 14 races, including five national elections. The first votes are expected shortly after the polls close, and election night updates are expected to last until about 3 a.m. ET. In the 2022 general election, 97% of votes had been counted by 12:00 the next day, a significant change from 2020, when the count took more than a week.
PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE SETS POSSIBLE SPECIAL ELECTION DATE FOR VACANT GOP SEAT
Decision notes
The AP makes no predictions and will only declare a winner if it is determined that there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidates to close the gap.
Should a candidate declare victory or offer a concession before the AP declares a race, we will include newsworthy developments in our coverage. We will make it clear that the AP has not yet declared a winner and explain why.
Declaring a winner in the Democratic primaries for mayor of Philadelphia will be complicated by the large field and vote count that Philadelphia counts after Election Day — 11% in the 2022 midterm elections. tabulated, so that it is not possible to see which parts of the city have registered and where the various candidates are doing well.
The state’s largest counties—Philadelphia and Allegheny—will play a major role in deciding the Democratic primaries for the Supreme Court, Supreme Court and Commonwealth Court. Suburban counties, including Montgomery, Bucks, Delaware, Chester and Westmoreland, will be important to watch in the statewide Republican primaries for the Supreme Court and Commonwealth Court.
The AP can declare a race in which the margin between the top two candidates is 0.5% or less if we determine that the lead is too great for a recount and legal challenge to change the outcome. Pennsylvania has automatic recounts for statewide races where the margin between the top two candidates is 0.5 percentage points or less. For local races, three voters in a constituency can request and pay for a recount.
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Question: What do turnout and pre-voting look like?
A: As of April 10, there were 8.6 million registered voters in Pennsylvania, including 3.9 million Democrats and 3.4 million Republicans. By Thursday, 323,398 Democrats and 94,504 Republicans had pre-voted. In 2022, about 40% of Democratic voters and 12% of Republican voters cast their ballots before Election Day.
AP’s preliminary statewide turnout forecasts are 1 million for the Democratic primary and 1 million for the Republican primary. In Philadelphia, AP’s preliminary turnout forecast is 220,000 for Democrats and 20,000 for Republicans.
Q: How long does counting usually take?
In the 2022 general election, 97% of votes had been counted by noon the day after the election. However, votes in a handful of counties, including Philadelphia, trickled in for more than two weeks.
