June 2, 2022
WARD REORGANIZATION MEETINGS ON JUNE 6 TO SHAPE LOCAL PARTIES
Open Wards Philly calls for committee people duly-elected by primary voters to participate in
free and fair elections for Ward Leaders
PHILADELPHIA, PA — Committee people, the neighborhood representatives of the Democratic and Republican parties, will select their leadership across 66 wards on Monday, June 6 in elections that are oft-overlooked—if not completely unknown—by the general public but have tremendous implications for political power in the city. It is essential that these elections be free and fair.
Both major parties have for generations been organized down to the block level, with up to two partisan committee people from each party elected for four-year terms in each voting division. In the May 17 primary election, nearly 3,000 Democrats and more than 600 Republicans ran for and won these hyper-local positions across 1,703 divisions. According to the party bylaws, these newly-elected committee people come together on the third Monday following the gubernatorial primary to elect a Ward Leader and other ward committee officers. The Ward Leaders, in turn, choose the party chairs from their seats on the City Committee.
Why these elections matter
The role and influence of the party organizations have evolved over time. In the 20th century, the provision of basic constituent services and access to government jobs were key sources of power, but these faded with the advent of civil service rules and modernized city agencies. Today, the most important functions of the parties are electoral, which for the city committees and in many wards primarily means issuing and distributing candidate endorsements. Many voters rely on such endorsements, especially in low-information races for judgeships and row offices–elections that are unfamiliar to most voters but have a significant impact on the daily lives of residents.
Despite the democratic and grassroots structure of the party organizations, neither party can be described as democratic or grassroots. With a few exceptions among the wards, decisions on candidate endorsements and other matters of governance have been made top-down, with little if any input from those committee people elected by the voters to represent them in the parties. In such closed wards, voter engagement is also typically minimal, limited to the distribution of the party slate on primary day or the efforts of individual committee people to turn out the vote in their own division.
In the worst of circumstances, committee people in closed wards are prevented from communicating with each other and face retribution or retaliation if they fall out of favor with leadership. More than a dozen committee people in the 22nd ward, for example, were shut out of ward activities altogether after asking for a say in ward endorsements and transparency in the committee’s finances.
Open wards, by contrast, include committee people in the decision-making process around endorsements and the general governance of the ward, democratic practices that ultimately lead to better outcomes for the ward committee and for the voters. Beyond the self-evident advantages of allowing open communication and the sharing of information and best practices among committee people, the risks of transactional dealing in candidate endorsements is diminished in open wards. Endorsements are more likely to be issued on the merits rather than campaign cash, the latter having led the Democratic party to recommend several times judicial candidates not recommended by the Philadelphia Bar Association. More than once, unqualified but party-backed judicial candidates have won elections, only to be later reprimanded or even removed from the bench for professional misconduct.
Committee people in open wards, enjoying the benefits of a more collaborative and synergistic ward committee, are also more likely to glean the resources and know-how to increase voter turnout from the existing baseline in the ward. Given the new procedural complications and heightened stakes of elections in recent years, it’s paramount that the thousands of committee people are empowered to nudge voter participation upwards in their communities.
Whether a ward will be open or closed will depend on its Ward Leader.
Ward Leader Elections at Reorganization Meetings Must be Free and Fair
Given the stakes for communities across Philadelphia and the city as a whole, it’s critical that the elections for Ward Leaders and other ward committee officers held on June 6 be free and fair. This means the following:
All duly-elected committee people must have proper notice of the time and place of the ward reorganization meeting.
The election process to be followed must be clear and broadly accepted among the committee people. This includes the use of Robert’s Rules of Order.
The right to request a secret ballot must be honored.
There should be no reason for committee people to fear retribution or retaliation as a result of their participation or vote.
We at Open Wards Philly do not endorse candidates for committee people or ward leadership, but we do care deeply about democratic process and in the agency of committee people as direct representatives of their constituents. We believe that more open, accessible, and democratic wards will result in stronger parties and, ultimately, a more vibrant and robust political system in Philadelphia. And therefore we strongly support the committee people duly elected in the May 17 primary election to exercise their voice in the upcoming ward reorganization meetings.
Open Wards Philly is a group of committee people and Ward Leaders in Philadelphia who are working toward more open, accessible and democratic wards. Learn more at www.openwardsphilly.com