The Brief: This Is The Only Philly Voter’s Guide You’ll Need Today

For all your last-minute cramming needs.

Photo by Matt Rourke

Photo by Matt Rourke/AP

Dear God, it’s here. Today is Election Day.

The stakes are high: This is Philadelphia’s first competitive mayoral primary in eight years. Plus, candidates for City Council, City Commissioner, Sheriff, Register of Wills and judge are on the ballot.

But maybe you don’t know where your polling place is located. Or you’ve never heard of any of the Council candidates before. Or you’re still undecided in the mayor’s race, and you want to read a few endorsements in hopes of something — anything — moving you.

It’s cool. We got you. Here is absolutely everything you’ll need to know to survive the 2015 Philadelphia primary election:

  • Citified’s no-bullshit guide to the mayoral candidates. For the procrastinators, the wafflers, the perfectionists and the just plain curious: Our honest assessment of the candidates’ greatest virtues and biggest downfalls.
  • Convincing op-eds for (almost) all of the mayoral candidates: The cases for Jim Kenney, Tony Williams, Lynne Abraham, Nelson Diaz and Doug Oliver.
  • Citified’s long-ranging interviews with the mayoral candidates, in case you want to get into the weeds: Here’s Kenney (parts 1 & 2), Williams (12), Abraham (there’s just 1), Diaz (12) and Oliver (12).
  • Citified’s no-bullshit guide to the Democratic City Council At-Large candidates. Because while the race is a doozy — there are 16 people running — it’s really, really important.
  • Citified’s Q&As with the top challengers in the Democratic at-large Council race, for those who want to go deeper: Here’s Sherrie Cohen, Allan Domb, Derek Green, Helen Gym, Paul Steinke, Isaiah Thomas and Tom Wyatt.
  • NewsWorks’ guide to the Republican City Council At-Large candidates.
  • NewsWorks’ guide to the candidates in the 2nd Council District race. A/k/a the crazy match between incumbent Councilman Kenyatta Johnson and developer Ori Feibush.
  • NewsWorks’ guide to the candidates in the 7th Council District race.
  • The elections watchdog Committee of Seventy’s guide to the candidates for City Commissioner.
  • Seventy’s guide to the candidates for Sheriff.
  • Seventy’s guide to the candidates for Register of Wills.
  • All the information that Citified could dig up on the judicial candidates. Spoiler: There’s not that much.
  • The four ballot questions you’ll see today, in plain English.
  • Insider Matt Ruben’s advice on voting like a pro. Why you may want to cast a ballot for only one Council candidate, even though you can vote for five.
  • The lowdown on how to find your polling place. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.
  • A sneak peek at a sample ballot. Courtesy of the City Commissioners’ office.
  • If you have any other questions about voting, you can call the Committee of Seventy at 1-855-SEVENTY. If you have a problem casting a ballot, you can call the District Attorney’s Election Fraud Task force at 215-686-9641.
  • And lastly, follow Citified’s liveblog for coverage of the election all day long!