Various factors impact voting in tight races

    A new poll out Wednesday shows the race for the single open seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is going to be close one. But more than half of registered voters surveyed are undecided. The winner could be determined more by turnout than anything else.

    A new poll out Wednesday shows the race for the single open seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is going to be close one. But more than half of registered voters surveyed are undecided. The winner could be determined more by turnout than anything else.

    Listen:
    [audio: 091027sppoll.mp3]

    With the latest Franklin and Marshall College poll showing the two state supreme court candidates running just about even, Pollster Terry Madonna says this is when political parties matter most.

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    Madonna: Two-thirds of the voters typically cast their votes by party. In appeals court elections, you have a higher turn-out as partisan voting because the voters don’t know much about the candidates and will use party to make a choice.

    Madonna says gender and geography could also play a role. That’s because women tend to pull the lever for females in judicial races. And voters in the western part of the state tend to vote for the regional candidate.

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