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Dr. Strangevote or: Why Democratic voters should never vote for a Democratic Council-at-Large Candidate


On Election Day, you’ll see several choices for City Council. There are seven open positions and city law gives you the ability to vote for five candidates to fill them. As sure as death and taxes, Democratic nominees Domb, Green, Greenlee, Gym and Reynolds-Brown will be serving on Council for the next four years. This is simply because tens of thousands of voters in the city will vote straight “D” on November 3rd, giving all five candidates their necessary votes.

All five Dems get in every year. Last election, the lowest Democrat (Greenlee) received more than 110,000 votes. The highest non-Democrat (O’Brien) received less than 50,000. That will happen again this year. Even the most optimistic Republican or Independent candidate would not think they will get even half of the votes of the least-voted-for Democrat.

So, let’s figure out how to use your votes more effectively. First, read our candidate guides and profiles in this issue and see which candidates match your views. Go ahead, we’ll wait. (Kristin Combs, Denny O’Brien, Andrew Stober, Dan Tinney and Terry Tracy. For even more obscure candidates, click here for the socialists and here for the rest of the field.)

No, seriously, give it a read.

Okay, welcome back. Surprising, huh? No Mitt Romneys or Sarah Palins there. Donald Trump is staying out of the Philly fray.

These non-Dems in Philly actually reflect tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Philadelphian’s views. Unfortunately no one explains this to voters.

So here’s what you can do. Pick the one or two — even five — candidates that you identify with the most and vote for them. Select them based one what you think makes good government. Vote according to your favorite issue or give your favorite Democrat a potential ally. There are two spots open and they will be working with the 15 guaranteed candidates starting in 2016.

Even if you don’t like any of these people — perhaps you despise one or two of them — vote for the others! Maybe you have someone on Council that you love. Who could help them the most? Do you like Allan Domb? Tracy said he can work with him. Do you like Helen Gym? Maybe Combs or Stober can help her. Even the district folks can use a hand. Do you like Bobby Henon or Mark Squilla? Maybe Tinney is the right choice. Maybe an approachable legislator like O’Brien helps your favorite member. Take time to think about it.

How did the Riverwards vote last time?

We took a large sample of our coverage area. We included entire wards like the 31st, which had the five Dems as their top choice, and the 25th and 45th wards, which did not have a Dem sweep among the top five spots. Also included are selected divisions in the 33rd ward and 23rd ward, which represent Harrowgate and Bridesburg respectively.

Within the sample, O’Brien led with 2462 votes, Taubenberger followed with 2370 and Oh came in third with 2255. Other non-Democratic candidates (Two Republicans, one Independent and write-in votes) totaled 3740 votes.

Considering that no non-Democratic candidate garnered anywhere near 20 percent of the vote ward-wide in the Riverwards (Taubenberger took about 11 percent in the 45th), more than half of the area votes wasted (53 percent of the sample, 12,304 total). This was in an election where just 203 votes (or 0.03 percent) represented the difference between the last spot and the top loser (Oh won, Taubenberger lost).

Vote wisely.

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