Election Day, Tuesday, November 3rd

It's not just a midterm election, which people tend to get less excited about -- it's an off year entirely. But that doesn't mean it's not CRUCIAL that we all get out and vote. Here in PA, there are key elections happening for important judges, and for local officials.

Why is this particularly important to animal protection organizations and voters who care about animal protection? Because judges who take animal cruelty cases seriously make all the difference. You can have all sorts of laws and regulations in place, but if the judges who hand out sentences, or in the case of the Supreme Court, decide if they're legitimate, aren't on board with making animal cruelty a serious offense that results in serious penalties, all the laws and regulations don't do any good. We need people who are willing to put some teeth into the laws we have.

Local officials are also important to animal protection advocates. They decide on things like supporting spay & neuter programs, zoning issues, and regulation of kennels, shelters, and even residents' in terms of the way they treat the animals in their care. They even make decisions about wildlife issues, as we learned here in Lancaster just a few years ago -- it took a long time, but humane solutions won out in our "management" of migratory crows, and poisoning was ended in favor of non-lethal tactics to move crow roosts. So local politics are VERY important, too. And don't forget -- lots of politicians who end up in the House and Senate start out in local roles, as commissioners, supervisors, etc... -- so getting to know them now, and getting them on board for animals, allows us to keep them on our side once they're bigger fish in bigger ponds.

That said, get to the polls tomorrow. Don't put it off and risk forgetting. And please check our endorsements before you head out -- we're endorsing several judges, and two candidates in local races for Mayor of Lancaster City and a supervisor in East Hempfield Township. While, coincidentally, all of our endorsed candidates are Democrats, this is not usually the case -- so PLEASE don't just blindly vote for one party -- as neither the Republicans nor the Democrats have great records, party-wide, on animal protection. A candidate, as an individual, either cares and is sympathetic to our issues, or he/she isn't. That's why we're non-partisan, and when it comes to the animals, that's why voters need to be, too. Vote for the candidate who'll do the best job on the issues you care about. If you're a subscriber to this blog, a key issue for you is animal protection, and our choices this time around are clear:

http://www.lohvpa.org/elections.html

Thank you! And PLEASE VOTE!!!!!