As of April 4, more than 159,000 registered voters in Pennsylvania have switched their party registration ahead of the April 26 Primary in order to participate in this year’s competitive Presidential contests, according to Pennsylvania’s election office.
About half of those switching their party registration, 79,500, became Republicans, one-third, 59,3000, registered as Democrats, and one-eighth, 19,875, joined a minor party.
But more unaffiliated or third-party voters joined the Democratic Party this year, 52,200 became a Democrat, while 42,600 switched to the GOP, and Democrats signed up more new voters this year, 70,000 to 55,500, according to State data. Democrats are heading into the Primary with slightly above 4 million voters; Republicans with nearly 3.1 million.
Pennsylvania uses a closed Primary system for its Presidential contests, meaning only registered members of a party can participate in that party’s taxpayer-funded Primary election. For hundreds of thousands of voters, voting for their candidate of choice was conditioned on them switching parties or joining a party, but 841,428 registered independents are still barred from Primary elections they help pay for.
Election officials expect the number to climb with a April 18 registration deadline.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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