HARRISBURG — Superior Court Judges Joan Orie Melvin and Jack Panella are locked in a dead-heat in the race for state Supreme Court, based on a statewide poll released Tuesday that shows the lowest voter confidence in Pennsylvania’s direction in 14 years.

Orie Melvin, a Republican from Marshall, led Panella, a Northumberland County Democrat, 22 percent to 20 percent in the poll of 529 registered voters conducted by Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster County. The poll for the Tribune-Review and WTAE-TV was conducted Oct. 20-25 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points.

The winner of the Supreme Court seat will swing the seven-member court to either a Republican or Democratic majority, which could play a role in determining legislative and congressional boundaries after the 2010 Census. The race is up for grabs, with 54 percent of voters saying they are undecided.

“What this says is the biggest winner at the moment is undecided,” said G. Terry Madonna, the poll’s director, noting it’s an indication that judicial races are “below the radar for average voters.”

Read the full Tribune-Review article here

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