# How I'm voting tomorrow **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 3, 2015, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-im-voting-tomorrow/736494 "2015-11-03T04:18:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2015, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-im-voting-tomorrow/736494/1 "2015-11-03T04:18:20Z")
Tomorrow is election day & we have lots of positions to vote for as most of the row offices are up for election, including but not limited to: [ul] [li]school board[/li][li]town supervisor[/li][li]county commissioner[/li][li]DA[/li][li]Sheriff[/li][li]Constable[/li][li]Clerk of Courts[/li][li]Controller[/li][li]Coroner[/li][li]Prothonotary[/li][li]Recorder of Deeds[/li][li]Register of Wills[/li][li]various court judges[/li][/ul] I _try_ to be an informed voter. No news organization endorses / makes recommendations. I can find bar association recommendations for some of the judicial positions, but not all of them. I have spent hours attempting to learn about the various candidates. Unfortunately, for many of them, this means their own (or their party’s) website. Sorry, I’m not going to waste my time on a marketing piece; of course I expect your website to paint you in glowing terms. Since I also don’t believe that there’s a Republican or Democratic way to do certain things - autopsies, file papers, serve papers, transport criminals, etc., my political leanings really don’t come into play either. That means it comes down to the tie-breaker, which candidate has the least negative points. How do they get negative points? Illegally placing their signs on local/county/state government owned property (since government can’t endorse any candidate), or owner-not-present property, like transit parking lots, utility right-of-ways, railroad overpasses, shopping center entrances, the back side of a golf course, etc. Especially the ones running for law enforcement positions; you’re breaking laws (trespassing, littering) trying to get elected to a position where you are tasked with enforcing them? Fat chance you’ll get my vote. Phone calls. Yeah, your scumbag predecessors may have made an exception to make it legal for you to call me; however, you’re still disturbing me. I flat out don’t answer the house phone this time of year. Yet I still need to listen to it ring, & I still need to go over to the answering machine just about every day & delete all of the messages that you’d bothered to leave as it’s now full. No, I’m not going to vote for you just because you got some celebrity, or ex-governor, or current state senator to record a message for you. In short, the more you bother me & the more I know your name, the _less_ likely you’ll be to get my vote. Duties of some of the positions: [spoiler] Duties of the Prothonotary The Prothonotary is the elected civil clerk of the Court of Common Pleas and is responsible for recording all civil procedures before the court. This official signs and seals all writs and processes numerous other documents of the Court of Common Pleas. The Office of Prothonotary is responsible for the recording and filing of legal papers of a widely diversified character such as: Administers oaths and affirmations Change of name Custody District Justice appeals Divorce Driver’s license suspension appeals Federal income tax liens Judgments Mechanics liens Medical malpractice Personal injury Protection from abuse School audits This office also processes passport applications. \*\*Constables \*\*are Public Officers elected or appointed to their position in accordance with the laws of elections. A Constable is a sworn Law Enforcement/Peace Officer that can arrest for felony crimes and breaches of the peace committed in his presence, or by warrant anywhere in the commonwealth. A Constable is also an officer empowered to carry out the business of the statewide district court system by serving warrants of arrest, mental health warrants, transporting prisoners, service of summons, complaints and subpoenas, and enforcing protection from abuse orders as well as orders of eviction and judgement levies. Constables are also charged with maintaining order at the election polls and ensuring that no qualified elector is obstructed from voting. Constables are the only law enforcement officials permitted at the polls on election day. **Coroner** applies current scientific methods for evidence analysis and investigations to effectively assist law enforcement, judicial court systems and health and environmental agencies. A variety of modern medicolegal investigative techniques, including an autopsy, when indicated, to establish the medical cause of death and the medicolegal manner of death (natural, accident, homicide, suicide or undetermined). Investigating Various Deaths The decedent is brought to our office, by our staff, when an examination is indicated. The decision of whether an autopsy will be performed is made by a board-certified forensic pathologist. Examples of deaths that are brought to our office are: 1. Overt criminal violence or suggestion of violence in any form; 2. Homicides, by any means; 3. Accidents by any means ; 4. Suicides by any means; 5. Sudden deaths of apparently healthy persons who are not under the care of a PA licensed physician; 6. Unidentified or unidentifiable persons or when the next of kin is unknown or may not be available; 7. Death in a public facility, i.e. correctional or psychiatric facility; or 8. Any suspicious, unusual or questionable death. The medical investigators conduct the initial phase of the investigation of each death reported to Coroner’s office. Most of the vital information-gathering and record keeping functions required for death investigations are performed by our medical investigators. Under the supervision of the Coroner, forensic pathologist and/or chief medical investigator, the medical investigators coordinate their findings with autopsy and laboratories throughout the entire investigative process Our investigators are all affiliated with the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators. [/spoiler] Kinda weak for the Pit, so MPSIMS. Mods move if you feel appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2015, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-im-voting-tomorrow/736494/2 "2015-11-03T05:03:01Z")
Reading your spoiler box, my reaction is: “Why on earth are those elected positions?” ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-im-voting-tomorrow/736494/3 "2015-11-03T17:48:56Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Reading your spoiler box, my reaction is: “Why on earth are those elected positions?” The “long ballot” is hearkens back to the days of the political machines and the patronage system. The political parties would hand out plum government jobs to people who could deliver blocks of votes on election day. Things like sheriff or school superintendents were especially plum because they ran large offices, which you could in turn use to reward your own flunkies with jobs. One of the ways the various anti-corruption crusaders came up with to fight the patronage systems was by making those jobs elected, removing the machines’ ability to dole them out. It is maybe a little archaic now that the US has moved on to exciting new forms of political corruption, though. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2015, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-im-voting-tomorrow/736494/4 "2015-11-03T17:53:28Z")
Yeah, I admit to skipping over some votes for local positions like the manager of the local water board and school board lackey #3. They all list the same information, argue “Think of the children!” and there’s rarely anything I know of to distinguish them. This election, I haven’t even seen very many signs out. It feels like the candidates themselves are burned out on politics. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2015, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-im-voting-tomorrow/736494/5 "2015-11-03T19:32:24Z")
Prothonotary sounds like a great job! “What do you do for a living?” “I write my name.” Every 1,000 documents or so I would sign my name as “Mickey Mouse” just to see if anyone would catch it. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2015, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-im-voting-tomorrow/736494/6 "2015-11-03T19:43:18Z")
I didn’t bother. I checked out the sample ballot for my town and I didn’t have a single choice. There were three positions being elected; town council times two and town justice. Everyone was unopposed. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2015, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-im-voting-tomorrow/736494/7 "2015-11-04T04:20:33Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > I didn’t bother. I did, for one simple reason…I vote so I can bitch. :o I did spend hours yesterday researching my choices, but there were a couple I went & voted Genesis\* on, because of what **dracoi** said. - You do remember answering multiple-guess tests to Genesis’s ABACAB album, right? First answer you didn’t know, put down choice “A” Second answer you didn’t know, put down choice “B” Third answer you didn’t know, put down choice “A”… ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2015, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-im-voting-tomorrow/736494/8 "2015-11-04T22:38:00Z")
[QUOTE=Spiderman] Yet I still need to listen to it ring [/QUOTE] Where the hell did you get a phone that lacks an option to turn the ringer off? Or, since you’re not answering anyway, to just take off the hook, or even disconnect entirely for the duration of your “hardship”? You may say you need it for emergencies, but since you aren’t answering anyway, it’s certainly not a way someone can contact you in an emergency. I’m not saying such calls aren’t annoying, simply that you in no way needed to “listen to it ring”. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2015, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-im-voting-tomorrow/736494/9 "2015-11-04T23:56:33Z")
Our household conveniently divided itself into an informal study group, sharing our reasoning and discoveries as we checked out this or that candidate. As has been true for some time now, the best information I got was by searching the various names on Youtube. In one case, an independent who might otherwise have received one of my votes was soundly defeated by his own video. His website was obviously done by someone with a brain. His video was not. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/5WvrO3L3Rbs/maxresdefault.jpg "Steve Pushor Independent Green Party") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WvrO3L3Rbs)