Pa. Republicans say they’re gaining on Democrats in number of active registered voters

Pennsylvania has nearly 9 million registered voters.

By TOM FONTAINE
TribLive

The Pennsylvania GOP said this week that new data show the active voter registration gap between Republicans and Democrats is the narrowest on record.

The GOP said it now has 25,811 fewer active registered voters — ones who voted at least once in the past four elections — than Democrats statewide. The gap was nearly 100,000 early last year, the state GOP said.

Pennsylvania has nearly 9 million registered voters.

“Voter registration has been a full-time priority of ours. It’s been something that we’ve constantly worked on,” James Markley, executive director of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, told Trib-Live.

While Democrats still have an edge in active registered voters, Markley suggested that shifting Democratic politics could be dampening the enthusiasm of many active voters who remain in that party.

“As the Democratic Party continues to move left, the positions of a lot of Democrats on the voter rolls are staying in the same spot. Many of them probably don’t see a home in the Democratic Party anymore,” Markley said.

“If I was a moderate Democrat and I saw socialism taking over my party, it probably wouldn’t give me too much motivation to go out and vote for a party that has completely lost its way,” he added.

A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

In addition to maintaining a slight edge in active registered voters, Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 206,000 in overall voter registration statewide, including those who haven’t voted in at least the past four elections but are still eligible to vote, according to state records.

That’s up slightly from last November, when Democrats outnumbered Republicans by about 170,000 in overall voter registration statewide.

Democrats have boosted their overall voter registration by about 29,000 since November, while Re-publicans saw their total dip by about 7,000 in the same span, state records show. The number of independent and third-party voters has gone up by about 47,000 since November.

Democratic Party officials contend their voters are motivated and loyal, pointing to results in the May primary. Gov. Josh Shapiro, the incumbent Democrat, and state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, the Republican candidate, were unopposed for their respective parties’ nominations to run for governor in November. Democratic leaders noted that Shapiro received around 1.1 million votes while some 640,000 Republicans marked their ballot for Garrity — an “enthusiasm gap” of 475,000 votes.

By the numbers

Registered voters in Mon Valley counties as of Monday according to the Pennsylvania Department of State:
Allegheny — 503,019 Democrats; 263,172 Republicans.

Fayette — 29,506 Democrats; 41,302 Republicans

Washington — 52,641 Democrats; 72,660 Republicans

Westmoreland — 86,856 Democrats; 130,910 Republicans