Time's up, but thank you all for participating -- lots of great questions! It was fun.

People have confirmation bias and seek to live in their own bubbles. That goes for both media and social media. When Facebook and Twitter shut people out, they found new platforms. The only way to eliminate this entirely would be through overarching censorship, which seems authoritarian in nature.

What you're asking, essentially, is how to change human nature. That's above my pay grade.

To some extent, yes. Republicans seemed wary of Oz after the heated primary. Many are probably begrudgingly coming back "home" now that Election Day is near.

Lots going on here ...

No. 1: These disputes happen all the time at all levels. Once covered Johnstown City Council where residency was challenged seemingly every cycle. Can't imagine this issue vanishing overnight.

No. 2: Personally? Monetary policy. Inflation is a backdoor tax that hits everyone on some level by eroding our wages and savings. This directly impacts our quality of life and can lead societies down a dark road. Think hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic.

No. 3: Credible journalism means being an eternal cynic of our political class. We need to report accurately and with tenacity. We also need to make sure we don't shake pom-poms for one party or the other. Network ownership, be it seen as left or right, should not impact the work we do, even if managers take a side on the opinion page.

No. 4: Yes, the increase in early mail-in voting means that the election starts much earlier than before. From a debate standpoint, that's almost irrelevant because the sides are increasingly unwilling to even go toe-to-toe with each other (such as in our gubernatorial race). For us though, it's basically a matter of digging into the candidates and issues much earlier than we had in the past. (And waiting much longer for results as county offices can't begin precanvassing all these mail-ins until the day of the election. But that's a whole other issue.)

What is the alternative under our existing system of government? Opting out by not voting at all, but "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice." (Unapologetic Rush lyric reference.)

A lot of people seem more motivated to vote "against" a person, policy or party than they are motivated to vote "for" a person, policy or party. So the choice becomes binary. They may think, "Why waste a vote on Candidate C when I know it's going to be Candidate A or B who wins ... and I can't tolerate what Candidate A stands for."

Individuals have been filing Right-to-Know requests for several weeks in counties across the commonwealth for cast vote records (CVRs). These are exempt from disclosure, and attempts to appeal this through the commonwealh's Office of Open Records have been unsuccessful. Still, this is widely viewed as a disruptive measure.

A group called Audit the Vote, which has disputed the 2020 results, has also publicly discussed efforts to recruit poll watchers, camp outside of ballot drop boxes and potentially file legal challenges. Whether these discussions go from talk to action, and whether they have any tangible impact on the election, remains to be seen. But it's something we'll be following.

Find common ground. Nearly half of Pa. residents (44%) identify inflation/the economy as their biggest concern. Everyone can agree that the rising cost of necessities like food is a bad thing. So which candidates have the best ideas to combat that? Is anyone proposing tested and proven solutions?

Other topics, such as abortion, drift into the faith category. That's tougher to discuss civilly because moral/religious positions are often taken personally.

Recent redistricting has generally been viewed as favorable to Democrats. Between that and abortion, which has galvanized many voters, this could be the year that they make some in-roads.

But Biden's unpopularity in the White House could negate that. Approximately 53% of Pennsylvanian's polled this fall are unhappy with the job he's doing. We'll see soon enough whether voters take this out on local legislative candidates. (And it's not like Trump is overwhelmingly popular here, either.)

These campaigns hire all kinds of expert consultants. Can't speak for them, but a guess would be that those folks feel the more effective messaging would be to humanize their candidate and demonize his opponent, rather than go on the defensive about his past or previous comments/positions.

A group called Audit the Vote, which has disputed the 2020 results, has publicly discussed efforts to recruit poll watchers, camp outside of ballot drop boxes and potentially file legal challenges. Whether these discussions go from talk to action, and whether they have any tangible impact on the election, remains to be seen. But it's something we'll be following.

Fetterman opened the summer with all the momentum. He won his primary handily. The Dobbs decision to overturn Roe v. Wade became a boon for Democrats overall. And Oz was still dusting himself off from a race so close it required a recount.

Fetterman seemed to appeal to voters as the more authentic candidate in contrast to the television doctor. Oz, however, has run a savvy campaign as evidenced by polls shifting toward him.

After touting the Trump endorsement to get through the primary, he's pitched himself as more of a centrist. He talks often of bringing "balance" to Washington, D.C. And his efforts to make crime a campaign issue and attack Fetterman's authenticity seem to be paying off. (Fetterman's unfavorability has rose from 27% to 44% from June to September. That's still lower than Oz's [51%], but it is a remarkable shift: https://www.goerie.com/story/news/politics/elections/2022/10/04/usa-today-suffolk-poll-in-pa-josh-shapiro-john-fetterman-still-in-the-lead-mastriano-doctor-oz/69530122007/ )

Though undecideds may be tilting toward Oz after Fetterman's difficulties in the debate, the Democrat could be helped by early mail-in voting if this outcome is a razor-thin margin.

The Cook Political Report moved this race from "Lean Dem" to "Toss Up" for a reason. Don't be surprised if it's too close to call election night.

That's difficult to answer because Mastriano and his campaign spokesperson haven't directly responded to a call or email from this reporter since his overwhelming victory in the GOP primary.

His running mate, Carrie Lewis DelRosso, gave an interview several weeks ago ( https://www.goerie.com/story/news/politics/elections/2022/10/10/whos-running-for-lt-gov-in-pa-and-what-will-they-do/69504591007/ ), but did not answer a follow-up question about this very topic ( https://www.goerie.com/story/news/politics/elections/2022/10/12/doug-mastriano-concede-election-governor-race-josh-shapiro-carrie-lewis-delroso/69543833007/ ).

So what would happen if they would lose and not "accept" defeat? Maybe nothing. Mastriano is not an incumbent, so it's not like he could hole up in the governor's mansion and refuse to leave. My guess would be that he and his camp would move to court challenges and/or push for ballot referendums to change voting laws in Pennsylvania. He's supported several such bills already.

Love the partial "South Park" reference.

The major parties do a good job of painting each other as so terrible, evil or odorous that a lot of voters would feel guilty "wasting" their vote on a candidate who appears to have no legitimate shot at winning. This is why some people advocate for ranked choice voting and independent primaries. The newly founded Keystone Party of Pennsylvania has been a vocal proponent of both.

That said, here are the third-party candidates in the big races this year: Libertarian Matt Hackenburg, Green Party nominee Christina DiGuilio and Keystone Party nominee Joe Soloski in the gubernatorial contest, and Libertarian Erik Chase Gerhardt, Daniel Wassmer of the Keystone Party and Richard Weiss of the Green Party in the Senate race.