Voters choosing sides for Presidential primary

DAVID HULSE
Posted 8/21/12

HONESDALE, PA — Pennsylvania voters shopping for candidates may change their party affiliations up to a month before the state’s April 26 primary, and for varying reasons many have done so again …

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Voters choosing sides for Presidential primary

Posted

HONESDALE, PA — Pennsylvania voters shopping for candidates may change their party affiliations up to a month before the state’s April 26 primary, and for varying reasons many have done so again this year.

Wayne Elections Director Cindy Furman reported last week that Republicans gained 458 adherents, while 171 others became Democrats between January 1 and March 16.

She reported to the county commissioners and Wayne Treasurer Brian Fields, meeting as the county board of elections on March 17. Fields replaced Commissioner Jonathan Fritz for this election, as Fritz is running for an open seat in the state House of Representatives.

With a new county total of 31,912 voters, the numbers represented just under a 3% increase for the majority GOP and almost a 2% increase for the Democrats.

Wayne also has 5,221 “other” voters who are not members of either major party.

Commissioner Wendell Kay, who chairs the board, said the situation was similar to 2008 when the change favored the Democrats. “This year, the major interest is in Republican ticket. That doesn’t necessarily mean it will change the November outcome,” the board’s sole Democrat added.

In fact, while voters often switch to favor a particular candidate, they sometimes switch to vote for someone they feel to be a weaker candidate in the other party, in order to create an easier campaign for their fall favorite. It’s called “strategic voting.” For example, CNN commentator Michael Smerconish, a Montgomery County, PA resident and lifelong Democrat, recently announced that he was re-registering as a Republican this spring “at least for a day,” to support Hillary Clinton by voting for Donald Trump. (His words, not TRR’s.)

Registration, both in person at the courthouse and online, is open through March 28. Furman reported that popular online registration “is through the roof.”

Statewide

Secretary of State Pedro A. Cortes earlier this month reported that for the first time, the number of online voter registration applications has surpassed paper submissions.

On March 8, Cortes reported that 85,000 online registrations had been received, exceeding paper submissions by 17,000.

“We expect that the difference between the numbers will continue to grow as more eligible citizens discover the convenience and accessibility….” Cortes said.

Pennsylvania launched the online registration site last August. It can be found at pavoterservices.state.pa.us/Pages/VoterRegistrationApplication.aspx.

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