Page 32 - Women's Yellow Pages (2019)

WARNING:
VOTING IS GOOD FOR YOU!
Bonnie DiCarlo is a political consultant. She can be contacted at 412.480.5247; bonnie255@aol.com

Are you registered to vote? If you are NOT registered, you are cheating yourself. If you ARE registered, you
have the right to vote. Or perhaps a better way of stating it is - you have the privilege of voting.

TWICE EACH YEAR
This is how often you should exercise your privilege to vote. In Pennsylvania
every State House seat (203) and 1/2 of our Senate seats (50) are voted on every two years, as well as every
Congressional seat (18). This happens in the even years. Of course the President is elected every four years
(during a leap year), and U.S. Senators are elected every six years. Each state has two U.S. Senators.

THE INCENTIVE TO VOTE IN EVERY ELECTION: the decision of how every penny of our tax money is spent is
made by our legislators - both local and national. Is this important to you?

ARE OTHER ELECTIONS IMPORTANT?
You bet they are! In Pennsylvania we elect our judges in the odd years.

We have a unified judicial system. The divisions are:
District Justice (local)
Court of Common Pleas (county)
Commonwealth Court (state)
Superior Court (state)
Supreme Court (state)
We elect every judge that sits on each of these courts.

You should know your local District Justice. She/he decides local issues - tenant complaints, small financial
claims, etc.

Judges on the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas hear cases in the family division, civil division, criminal
division. They decide on issues of child custody and child support, civil white collar crimes and criminal crimes,
including murder cases.
YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE THE JUDGES WHO WILL BE MAKING THESE DECISIONS FOR YOU
AND YOUR NEIGHBORS. This decision is important. Elect judges who you feel will be the fairest, most unbi-
ased, and most human. You may find yourself before one of these judges.

Pennsylvania has two intermediate appellate courts - Commonwealth Court and Superior Court.
Judges (9) on the Commonwealth Court hear appeals on government regulations, and also cases regarding mu-
nicipalities, zoning and state-wide elections.
Judges on the Superior Court (13)
hear appeals from all 67 counties. They must hear every case that is appealed from the Courts of Common
Pleas.
Justices on the Supreme Court (7), the oldest Supreme Court in the nation, get to pick and choose which cases
they will hear on appeal. Because of their choices, most appeals are decided by the Superior Court judges. That
makes the Superior Court the court of final appeal.

IS IT IMPORTANT TO VOTE IN EVERY ELECTION?
You can make this decision. All elected officials have control over our lives. I would suggest it is important to vote
for persons who share your values, who share your outlook on life, and who share your political views.

BE A KNOWLEDGEABLE VOTER
Know the candidates and their views on YOUR issues. Every Spring and every November we have the opportunity to
choose our officials. Take this privilege seriously and VOTE.
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