The polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. for today’s citywide primaries, the most important election of the year. Party nominations for Mayor, all 17 City Council and a bunch of judgeships seats are up for grabs.

All 17 City Council seats are on the ballot. Jannie Blackwell is running unopposed in District 3, which covers much of West and Southwest Philadelphia. Some 16 Democratic (including Spruce Hill resident Paul Steinke) and seven Republican candidates (including Spruce Hill resident Matt Wolfe) are running for at-large seats in today’s primary.

Other offices on the ballot include City Commissioner, Supreme Court, Superior Court, Commonwealth Court, Court of Common Pleas, Municipal Court, Sheriff and Register of Wills.

Today’s ballot also includes four questions open to any registered voter regardless of party affiliation. One question, a non-binding referendum, asks whether the School Reform Commission should be abolished and local control of the city schools should be restored.

The Committee of 70 has tons of info on today’s election. Go here for a complete rundown on all of the candidates. Go here if you need to find your polling place.

Helen Gym. From the Helen Gym for City Council website.

Helen Gym, the stalwart public education activist who is running for City Council, will be in West Philly on Saturday (May 9) at the Urban Art Gallery (262 S. 52nd St.). Gym is running for an At-Large seat in the May 19 primary.

The event will feature live music from the Producer’s Guild and food from African Small Pot (6505 Woodland Ave.). It will run from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

With less than a month remaining until a primary election that will likely have a huge impact on the future of city politics, here’s an important event where you can meet some of the candidates, hear what they have to say and ask your questions.

The 27th Ward invites community members to come out this Thursday (April 23) to USciences’ Rosenberger Hall to hear Democratic City Council-at-Large candidates Bill Greenlee, Alan Domb, Jenne Ayers, Frank Rizzo Jr., Isaiah Thomas, Tom Wyatt, Alexander Wilson, and candidate for City Commissioner Will Mega.

The event starts at 7:30 p.m. Rosenberger Hall is located at 600 S. 43rd Street (next to the basketball courts in Clark Park).

This is another political candidates forum hosted by the 27th Ward this spring. The first forum, where mayoral candidate Jim Kenney participated, was held on March 26.

Today is the last day to register for the May 19 Primary Election, which will very likely determine the next mayor of the city.

You can find your registration status here.  More info on registration is available at the Committee of 70 site here and you can find your polling place for the primary here. Also, here is a Committee of 70 “one pager” (it’s actually two pages) on the Primary.

Mayoral candidate Jim Kenney (Facebook photo).

The 27th Ward Democratic Executive Committee will host a forum Thursday, March 26 with candidates contending in May’s primary. The forum will include mayoral candidate and former city councilman Jim Kenney and city council candidates Blondell Reynolds Brown, Helen Gym, Ed Neilson, and W. Wilson Goode, Jr., Paul Steinke, and Sherrie Cohen.

The public is welcome to attend this meeting, which will take place at Rosenberger Hall at the University of the Sciences (600 S. 43rd Street, near Woodland Ave.), starting at 7:30 p.m.

This forum was originally scheduled for March 5 but was cancelled due to snow.

The primary election will be held May 19 and the general election is slated for Nov. 3. You can get up to speed on the council and mayoral candidates on the Committee of Seventy website.

– Mike Lyons

Paul Steinke (photo from Linked In)

West Philly resident Paul Steinke, the former general manager of the Reading Terminal Market, will officially announce tomorrow that he will run for City Council.

Steinke’s announcement that he will run for an at-large Democratic seat in the May 19 primary was expected after he stepped down as general manager at the Terminal Market in early December. The announcement is scheduled for Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at the Field House, a sports bar adjacent to the Market.

The former finance director of the Center City District and the first executive director of the University City District, Steinke, 49, has overseen a 30 percent increase in visitors and $4 million in renovation and expansion of the Market in the 13 years he has overseen operations there, according to a statement from his campaign. Steinke is a 1986 graduate of Penn State University.

Steinke hopes to be the first openly gay person elected to citywide office. He lives in the Spruce Hill neighborhood with David Ade, his partner of nearly 20 years.

All 17 City Council seats are up for election in November – 10 district seats and seven at-large seats.

– Mike Lyons