The Whitemarsh Township Board of Supervisors’ controversial decision to cancel the annual 4th of July parade comes just before a primary election on May 20th. There are two seats up for election on the board of supervisors, and each party has two candidates running.

Democrats and Republicans will be able to cast two votes and only have two choices to select from. If voters from the two parties are dissatisfied with their choices, they can choose to write in other names or undervote. Undervoting is when you vote for some offices, but not others. For example, you cast votes for the school board, but not the board of supervisors.

Democrats have held a 5-0 majority on the board of supervisors for approximately seven years. Will the cancellation of the parade offer a Republican the opportunity to win a seat?

On the Democratic Party side, the lone incumbent, Patrice Turrene (top left center), is running with Megan Griffin-Shelley (top left). For the Republican Party, the candidates are Fran X. O’Donnell (top right) and Christi O’Donoghue (top right center).

As the lone incumbent, Turrene is the only candidate on record regarding the parade. She voted to cancel it. We have reached out to the other candidates to offer them the opportunity to provide a statement on the cancellation.

Since the primary is essentially over without a vote even being needed, none of the candidates have active social accounts or websites for their campaigns (or at least that we can find).

We will give them a couple of days to respond, and then we will provide you with an update.

Photos: Colonial Democratic Committee (left) and Whitemarsh GOP (right)