Committee of 70 Makes Worst Argument Ever for Why You Should Vote


There’s an election next Tuesday, and The Committee of 70 wants you to participate. It’s supposed to feature some historically low turnout, on account of there only being one truly contentious race taking place–the three-way City Controller melee. So, our trusty watchdogs have provided a list of five reasons why we should head to the ballot box. Most of them are arguments for good civic behavior (“You can send a signal,” etc.). But one in particular actually makes a pretty compelling case that your vote is all but useless:

You can fill the last open seats on the embattled Philadelphia Traffic Court. It’s too late for the primary but the PA General Assembly is moving ahead on a bill that would remove the three open seats on the ticket-scandal-plagued Traffic Court from the November 2013 ballot. For May 21, since the Bar Associations don’t endorse Traffic Court candidates (because they aren’t lawyers), it’s a real crapshoot who among the 27 candidates–25 Democrats, two Republicans–will come out on top anyways. (Emphasis mine)

In other words: We should get rid of the whole court because it’s a horribly corrupt institution and actually we have no idea whom you should vote for because they’re all unqualified anyways. So…vote!