find your WARD
Enter your Philadelphia address and get everyone who represents you, from Congress down to committee persons in your neighborhood.
How do wards work in philadelphia?
What is a philadelphia ward?
Philadelphia is divided into 66 wards. Each ward is split into divisions of a few blocks each. Your ward and division determine where you vote, who your committee people are, and which local party organization makes endorsements in your neighborhood.
Wards are political units. A single neighborhood can sit across two or three wards, which is one reason most people don’t know which one they live in.
What is a Division?
A division is the smallest political unit in Philadelphia. It’s usually a few blocks, and the group of voters who share a polling place. Every division elects two committee people. Those are the only party offices ordinary voters elect directly.
What is a Committeeperson?
A committee person represents their division inside the local party organization. Together, the committee people in a ward vote on which candidates the ward endorses, whose names appear on the sample ballot handed to voters at the polls, and who serves as ward leader.
That's real power over who runs this city. Consider becoming one.
What is a ward leader?
A ward leader is elected by the committee people in a ward and represents that ward in the Democratic City Committee, the party's citywide body. Ward leaders influence endorsements, sample ballots, and where party money and volunteers go in an election.
What's the difference between an open ward and a closed ward?
In an open ward, committeepeople elected by their own neighbors get to vote on which candidates and issues represent the needs and values of their community.
In a closed ward, candidate endorsements and other critical party business sits with one person who gets to cut deals and make decisions alone while the people who actually live in the division don't get a vote.
Neither arrangement is written into city law. It's party practice, ward by ward, and it changes when neighbors run for the seats.
How do i find out if my ward is open or closed?
Enter your address in the tool at the top of this page. Your results show your ward number, your division, your committee people, your ward leader, and an open or closed status badge.
Who are my elected officials in Philadelphia?
The lookup returns everyone who represents you: your member of Congress, your state senator and state representative, your City Council district member and the at-large members, your ward leader, and your division's committee people.
Where do I vote?
Your polling place is determined by your division. The lookup returns it along with everything else. Lookup your polling place on the Philadelphia City Commissioners site.