On the Election Day Ballot

Whether in the city or the suburbs, Pennsylvania voters will find plenty on the ballot to keep them busy during Tuesday's primary election.

Starting with the courts.

All voters will be asked to pick two judicial candidates for state Supreme Court and two for Superior Court.

In Philadelphia, they also will get four selections for Common Pleas Court, three for Traffic Court, and two for Municipal Court.

In addition to their mayoral pick, city voters will vote for their City Council district representatives, five of the seven at-large Council seats, the two city commissioners, and one candidate each for register of wills, sheriff, and clerk of courts.

Philadelphia voters will face eight ballot questions. They include whether the city should borrow $129.7 million for a variety of infrastructure and economic-development expenses and whether a number of changes should be made to the City Charter.

The changes would reflect citizen opposition to a new method of calculating tax assessments, create a Youth Commission, and allow city elected officials to become candidates for public office without resigning.

In Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties, voters will cast ballots for county offices, Common Pleas Court, school boards and, in some communities, municipal offices.

There are contested races for county councils in Bucks, Chester and Delaware Counties, but not in Montgomery County.

Most Pennsylvanians also will decide whether to cut school property taxes by raising income taxes an equal amount. The ballot question is required by Act 1, the property-tax-relief law passed last year, and applies to all localities except for Philadelphia, Scranton and Pittsburgh.

The law is designed to shift the tax burden from fixed-income homeowners, mostly senior citizens, to higher-income wage earners.

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