During the off-year elections it’s easy to believe that the races are somehow less important. But truth is the District Attorney of the sixth largest city in America is a big time prosecutor.  Also, imagine being the City Controller and trying to keep a track of the hundreds of millions of dollars that exchange hands in Philadelphia. So, with that said, if you are a Philadelphia resident please take a few moments to vote.  For all other Pennsylvanians, there are a number of statewide judicial races to vote for and you probably have some important local races of your own.

The great part of an off-election year is by voting, you are a defacto power broker. With only 15 percent of registered voters in Philadelphia expected to vote today, those who do can walk around tomorrow exclaiming “I’m the decider.”

I spent most of the day filling in for Radio Times, my old job. So, I didn’t get a chance to blog much.  But I did notice on the AP wire for election related stories. I did notice that as the D.A.’s office and Committee of Seventy are diligently looking for any problems at election sites, that at the same time Ringling Bros was auditioning in Philadelphia for a few good clowns Wannabe clowns performed 3 to 5 minute routines to audition for a spot in the clowning school. Coincidence? I don’t think so.  The tryouts were held at the Wachovia Spectrum, where the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is performing through Monday.

As for serious election stuff here’s one of the websites we’ll be watching closely tonight.

http://www.phillyelectionresults.com/

This is the site for the Philadelphia Commissioner’s Special Election results website. Thanks again to Young Philly Politics for waging a long battle last year that has resulted in real-time returns for everyone.  Most counties will provide some election returns online.

It’s strange going into an election night without any polls to give us some gauge of who’s the likely leader. That means for all the races, but in particular the Philadelphia D.A. and Controller’s races; it’s anyone’s guess who will win the Democratic nominations. All of us here at WHYY love election night, so we’ll be talking up a storm here if you’re bored with American Idol.