On November 7, two Working Families Party nominees were elected to at-large spots on the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania city council. The election is partisan, and uses limited voting. Seven at-large seats are up but no party is permitted to run more than five nominees. So with only five Democrats on the ballot, this means it is inevitable that some other party will win the other two seats. Effectively the race was between the Republican nominees and the Working Families nominees.

Four years ago the Working Families Party elected Kendra Brooks. She was re-elected yesterday, and another WFP nominee, Nicholas O’Rourke, also won. Thanks to Independent Political Report for this news.

Here is the story from the Associated Press on today’s ruling.

Here is the four-page opinion in Growe v Simon, A23-1354. It is unanimous. The Court says that the purpose of the presidential primary is to enable Republican voters to choose delegates to the national convention, and there is no basis to interfere with the Republican presidential primary. It says there is no law that says a presidential primary ballot cannot let people vote for delegates who are pledged to vote for an unqualified candidate at the national convention.

This decision could conceivably have turned out differently if the case were about the general election bvallot, but the Court said any decision about the general election ballot, even if it were to be filed soon, would not be ripe. Thanks to Derek Muller for the link to the decision.