Font ResizeVoters were good judges: Chuck Patterson made history Tuesday by becoming the first black man to win a judgeship in York County Common Pleas Court. He's also the first black man to win countywide office.
Perhaps his victory should have been predictable.
He was clearly the strongest candidate -- and was on the GOP ticket in a heavily Republican county. But he had some strong challengers in fellow Republican Harry Ness and Democrat Kathleen Prendergast.
In the end, he outpolled them all, showing that county voters are good judges of character and qualifications.
It's stirring and satisfying to see an outstanding candidate win such a well-deserved victory -- made all the more so by his status as the first African-American on the bench.
Congratulations, Mr. Patterson.
Low turnout: News reports called Kim Bracey's victory as York mayor a "landslide."
True, if you can call any victory in such an underwhelming turnout a "landslide."
At the polling places in York city, it was more like a trickle of voters than a landslide.
We've come to expect -- if not accept -- low voter turnout in municipal elections. But good grief, where was the excitement about this history-making election in the city?
At the polling place in the Crispus Attucks Community Center -- the heart and soul of York's black community -- poll workers were . . . well, badly
True, it might be unrealistic to expect the kind of buzz elicited by the Obama election a year ago, but this turnout was disappointing -- and the same goes for countywide turnout, at 18.7 percent.
Maybe the low city turnout was because of a lack of any real competition -- as Ms. Bracey's competitors were a Republican whose platform consisted of trying to bring an NFL team to tiny York, and a write-in candidate -- but it's disheartening nonetheless.
Not the write stuff: That mayoral write-in candidate, Steve Young, a city computer shop owner, was critical of the lack of coverage of his candidacy and his exclusion from a Rotary Club debate.
But in truth, anyone who lives in the city is a potential write-in candidate.
Our best advice: If Mr. Young wants to run for city office -- council, mayor, school board -- he should make the effort to get on the ballot, at which point he'll be taken more seriously.
But if he hopes to win, he'll have to take a more positive stance. In online forums, he's offered some well-aimed -- but often overly harsh and mean-spirited -- criticisms of the city and its officials. We'd like to see more constructive ideas from him, offered in a more civil manner.
Come down from cyberspace, Mr. Young, and offer some better real-world solutions rather than a lot of nasty name-calling.
