The ballot order for Philadelphia’s 2015 Mayoral Democratic Primary has been chosen.
How do they do it? They pick balls out of a coffee can. Seriously.
State Senator Anthony Williams, generally considered the front-runner, picked the top spot. Former Councilman Jim Kenney, who has momentum on his side, got the third position. Sandwiched between them is not exactly first-tier candidate Milton Street.
Former Nutter spokesman Doug Oliver won the fourth spot while Judge Nelson Diaz will be fifth. Former DA Lynne Abraham was the unlucky candidate that came up with the sixth and last position on the ballot.
This same method will be used to pick ballot positions for City Commissioner and the City Council. Those draws are even more significant because in a down-ballot race, placement can make all the difference. Really.
Far be it from me to suggest that perhaps the method to determine the ballot for the election to the nation’s sixth-largest city not be so low-tech it would make a fantasy football commissioner laugh.
I will humbly propose, however, that since we put so much emphasis on the importance of gathering signatures maybe that could be the way instead.
Or, you know, just literally anything else.
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3 Responses
This is how ballot order is determined, in every county I know of in PA. I drew my own ballot position here in Dauphin County yesterday.
This article and the linked one make it sound as if this is some weird thing they do in Philly.
Hey Nick, A coffee can works just fine and has for a long time. You can’t rig a coffee can. Now signatures get challenged only to get on the ballot; you’d only be wasting money and court time jockeying for ballot position. Give it a rest.
I think there’s something useful in the fact that a candidate that just barely gets on the ballot can still get the 1st ballot position.