Over the past six months the race for the presidency has been hot between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. However while there has been plenty of coverage on their electoral battle for the presidency, not much has really been made on the other elections that have taken place as well.

Among the positions on the ballot, the Presidential election is only one of 251 that are up for election in Pennsylvania, according to BallotReady.org. While the presidential election is important for the overall country, other lower-level elections may be crucial for cities like Wilkes-Barre and smaller surrounding municipalities and townships..

Will Clark, Wilkes-Barre Township chief of police said that the lower level elections are what important for Wilkes-Barre because the people running in the local elections are what decides what happens in the city.

“…obviously you want to have representatives in there that best represent your local municipality to get grant funding and assistance for the community,” he said. “I know they put a lot of money into downtown for the homeless shelters. So that’s where your local politicians play a huge role in as far as development, economic growth and local employment.”

While these local elections are important, some people don’t even know who is running. Some simply vote for a specific party despite who the candidate is. Lucy Jones, a resident of Wilkes-Barre Township, said she specifically voted for the republican party because that’s just the party that aligns with her beliefs.

Madison Danishanko, a Wilkes University student, said pretty much the exact opposite. “I had no idea what the names were, I just pressed Democrat.”

Brianne Fetterman, a Wilkes University alumnus, said that there needs to be more attention paid to local level elections.