The 'hot races' are in Phila. Tuesday

Pennsylvania voters head to the polls Tuesday for elections that will stir passions inside local governments but lack an overarching, statewide theme.

"These are very low visibility" primaries, said G. Terry Madonna, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin and Marshall College. "There are no real statewide issues."

Registered voters can cast ballots for nominees for six appellate court seats in contention: one on the state Supreme Court, three on Superior Court, and two on Commonwealth Court. There are no statewide ballot questions.

Despite the record number of Pennsylvanians who voted in November's presidential election, this election day is expected to draw the typically thin turnout of an off-year, nonfederal primary.

"I think we are looking at a statewide turnout of probably 15 to 20 percent," Madonna said.

Even "the two hot races, for controller and district attorney" in Philadelphia, he said, "are not likely to draw a lot of people to the polls. . . . This is what we used to call a 'committeeperson's election.' "

According to the election watchdog group Committee of Seventy, turnout in the last three Philadelphia primaries was 14 percent in 1997, 19 percent in 2001, and 15 percent in 2005.

The intensifying Democratic primary for Philadelphia district attorney pits former Assistant Prosecutors Brian Grady, Dan McCaffery, Dan McElhatton, Michael Turner, and R. Seth Williams against one other.

They are vying for the job that since 1991 has belonged to Democrat Lynne M. Abraham, who decided not to run again. The winner will face Republican Michael Untermeyer, who is unopposed on Tuesday's ballot, in the fall.

McElhatton is backed by Mayor Nutter.

McCaffery has piled up union endorsements. Williams is endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police and many elected officials. Grady stresses his experience as a prosecutor and criminal-defense attorney. Turner stresses his experience as manager of one of the city's largest firms.

In the three-way primary for city controller, Alan Butkovitz is trying to keep the seat he has held since 2005.

A former state legislator, Butkovitz has the backing of the Democratic establishment, including Nutter. He emphasizes his record of exposing wasted city dollars and potential city savings.

Rival Brett Mandel has accused him of being more interested in headlines than policy and failing to complete required annual audits of city departments.

Mandel, the former head of an organization that has sought to reduce wage and business taxes in the city, worked in the Controller's Office under Butkovitz's predecessor, Jonathan Saidel.

In a move indicative of the intensity in the race, Butkovitz enlisted Saidel in an ad that accuses Mandel of "cheap political trickery" for allegedly misrepresenting his political experience.

A third candidate, former Common Pleas Court Judge John Braxton, alleges that Butkovitz, a Democratic ward leader, is of the "old guard." Braxton describes himself as "unbought and unbossed."

The winner will face Republican Al Schmidt in the fall.

Schmidt, unopposed on Tuesday's ballot, is a former federal auditor who moved to Philadelphia in 2005 and worked until January as director of the Republican City Committee.

Against the backdrop of a scandal in which two Luzerne County judges pleaded guilty to receiving money from treatment centers to which they sentenced more than 1,000 juveniles, the Republicans running for the state Supreme Court seat - Joan Orie Melvin, Cheryl Allen, and Paul Panepinto - have made integrity an issue.

At a forum in Harrisburg, Melvin said there was a "lack of public confidence in the courts." Allen said she wanted to "restore honesty and integrity."

Only one Democrat, Superior Court Judge Jack Panella, is running for the Supreme Court.

In other appellate-court elections, voters must choose among 18 candidates for the three open Superior Court seats and the two on Commonwealth Court.

Several Southeastern Pennsylvania races are equally crowded.

Montgomery County, which has a record seven Common Pleas judgeships open, has 18 candidates vying. Bucks County, which has three open spots on the Common Pleas bench, has six candidates.

In Delaware County, two open seats on the Republican-controlled County Council have drawn three entrants in each party's primary, though no Democrat has been elected to the council since 1976.

Chester County's row-office primaries have contested nominations only on the Republican side, with two candidates each vying for treasurer and clerk of courts.

Many other municipal council, school board, and district judgeship races are on ballots.

Cliff Wilson, chairman of the Delaware County Democratic Party, said the predicted low turnout had no bearing on the large number of candidates in various races, noting that an average of 22 candidates will be on the ballots in the county's 49 municipalities.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Committee of Seventy

Election hotline: 1-866-OUR-VOTE (1-866-687-8683).

Philadelphia polling-place locator: www.phillyvoter.org or 1-866-268-8603.

Voter services

Philadelphia: 215-686-3460.

Bucks County: Registration questions, 215-348-6163; polling-place questions or issues, 215-348-6154.

Chester County: 610-344-6410.

Delaware County: 610-891-4673.

Montgomery County: Registration questions, 610-278-3280; polling-place questions or issues, 610-278-3275.

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