2016 Primary Election Guide for West Conshohocken

Citizens of West Conshohocken, we hope you know there is a primary election on Tuesday, April 26th. You have a couple important choices to make. For both parties there are contest primaries for President of the United States and Attorney General of Pennsylvania. The Democrats also have a contested primary for Senator of the United States. On both sides there are also a handful of non-contested primaries, so you don’t really have a choice, unless you want to write someone in (feel free to write us in).

There are also two proposed amendments to the Pennsylvania Constitution. You can read the proposed amendments here.

Then there are the delegates you vote to send to the Republican and Democratic Party Conventions. This process has become controversial due to the potential for contested conventions, what happens on second ballots, etc.

If you want to vote for the delegate who is at least loyal (initially) to the Presidential candidate of your choice, below is a breakdown from the Montco Voter Services’ website of where the delegates stand for the Democrats:

delegates democrat

 

The Republicans do it differently. Delegates aren’t elected pledged to a candidate. This is from a website called The Green Papers:

  • 54 of the Commonwealth’s 71 delegates to the Republican National Convention will be directly elected (their names appear on the ballot) in a LOOPHOLE type primary, in which delegates are elected separately from a presidential preference. Each of the 18 Congressional District is allocated 3 delegates (54 = 18 districts × 3 delegates/district). Rule 8.4 of the Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania’s Rules states that all delegates elected by Congressional District “…shall run at large within the Districts and shall not be officially committed to any particular candidate on the ballot.”.

  • 17 (10 base at-large delegates plus 4 bonus delegates plus 3 RNC delegates) of the Commonwealth’s 71 delegates to the Republican National Convention delegates are bound for the 1st ballot to the candidate who receives the most votes in the Pennsylvania Presidential Primary. The delegates are released if the candidate withdraws, suspends, or terminates his/her campaign or publicly releases his/her delegates. [Rule 8.3]

Here are the Republicans running to be a delegate. A local radio host asked the delegates how they planned to vote at the convention if selected as a delegate.

rep dele 1

rep dele 2

 

The polls open on Tuesday, April 26th at 7:00 a.m. and close at 8:00 p.m. If you need practice, below are sample ballots by ward and where to vote:

Sample Ballot

West Conshohocken (Saint Gertrude Church Hall)