Norristown Patch's Election Guide – the Local Candidates

There's a lot to keep track of in local races so here's a quick guide to what you'll be faced with when you step inside the voting booth today.

Council Races

The real contest is for Norristown Municipal Council member Bill Procyson's open at-large council seat. Procyson is not running for re-election.

The candidates in contention are Republican Troy Bean and Democrat Dwayne Royster. You can .

In the second ward, current sitting councilman Bill Caldwell is running uncontested, but as with any of these races you can always write in a candidate of your choice in the space provided.

Caldwell has been on council since 2006 and was Council President in 2010. You can learn more about him on his bio page at Norristown.org.

In the fourth ward, current Council Vice President Gary Simpson, a Democrat, is facing Republican opponent Joseph E. Epifanio.

Simpson has been a member of council since 2008 and has made the issue of bringing new business to Norristown a personal cause in council.You can learn a bit more from him on his bio page on Norristown's website.

Epifanio ran unopposed in the primary and according to is a perennial candidate on the ballot in Norristown on both the Republican and Democratic tickets.

School Board

There are five seats up for grabs on the Norristown Area School Board and ten candidates running, three of whom are incumbents. Two sitting board members, Michael Howell and Karen Shanoski, will not be running for re-election.

On the Republican side, there's Sue Christensen, Ken Christovich, Frances M. Cubberley, Christa U. Henderson and Scott Felix. The Democrats have Janice Pearce, Laura Diana Rivera, Michael Melnyk, Albert Mauthe and Iva J. Ferrell.

The Times Herald did a fairly nice job of outlining the issues facing our district and what the candidates claim they would do to set things straight in a recent article. You can find the piece on The Herald's website here.

Magisterial District Judge

Current sitting District Judge Margaret A. Hunsicker is running unopposed in the 38-1-16. That's the only judicial post in question on the local level, but there are seven state-level judges and one Justice of the Supreme Court who voters can decide whether or not they want to keep.

We've covered your choices on the county level in two earlier posts. You can check both and of that guide for that info.

You can get a look at your entire ballot in advance by downloading it from our PDF section. You can also get real-time updates from us by liking us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. As soon as we know something, you will too.

If you see a problem on voting day, give us a call at 610-308-9881 or email editor James Myers at james.myers@patch.com, and we’ll be on the scene to make sure the public at large hears about it.