I realized this week that many incoming students at Temple and even upperclassmen are unfamiliar with the political process in Philadelphia. As the general election is drawing perilously close, I decided to take a little time to do a rundown of how our elections work for the benefit of those newly arrived or long ignorant of the glorious Philadelphia party machine. In the first of a series leading up to our November 6th election, I would like to provide an introduction to some of the vagaries of the Philadelphia political process.

I’d like to begin this week by taking a look at exactly how elections work. With election day only a few weeks away, you’re probably thinking, “This is a glorious chance to make my voice heard and exercise the freedoms granted to me by the democratic process our soldiers have died to uphold.” Not so fast, young democratic advocate! You are fortunate enough to live in a city controlled by a “political machine“.

This means that the advantage held by one political party is so overwhelming, in this case the Democratic Party holding a 8 to 1 majority over Republican voters, that they can effectively control all levels of government. Since a vast majority of citizens voting in the general election are going to vote for the candidates nominated by the Democratic Party of Philadelphia, the outcome of the general election in November is actually decided by the primary election in May. In the primary, voters who are registered as Democrats vote on who will be the official Democratic candidates for various government posistion in November. The winner of the primary will almost certainly win the general election, because there are more than enough Democratic voters who vote “straight ticket” (voting for every Democratic nominee) every year.

In essence, the future leader of the city is decided solely by Democratic voters (of which there are about 750,000), who choose to vote in the primary election (about 291,000 did this year), and the small plurality of those whose candidate won (Michael Nutter received 104,000 votes). To sum up: The future of the city is decided by 1/14th of its population, about six months before an election in which everyone can vote is held. To compound matters more, Philadelphia has a closed primary system, meaning that non-Democrats can’t even choose to vote in the primary that will virtually select their mayor for them.

I voted for Michael Nutter and I think he is a good candidate. But as good as he is, he is still part of a highly undemocratic process for selecting leaders. Voters in this city need to wake up to fact that all too often their political fate is being decided by a small cadre of party leaders propping up candidates that they feel will best tow the party line. The real outrage is not so much that this political manipulation occurs, but that there are enough complacent voters in Philadelphia to let this continue year after year.

Investigate your candidates every year. Elections on neighborhood levels are often won or lost by only a few hundred votes either way, but in the city every politician matters. Sadly, its probably too late to change much this year, but wake up and pay attention during the next primary. That is the time when the party tries to slip in as many cronies as possible with as little attention paid by the public as possible.