Registered GOP voters surge in Wash Co.
Republicans are seeing a surge of voter registration in both Washington and Greene counties with less than two weeks left to register for the Nov. 8 general election.
However, Democrats still hold a commanding registration advantage in both counties despite gains in recent months by the GOP.
Since the April primary, Washington County added 4,292 new voters to the registration rolls to increase the total number to 135,462, county assistant elections director Wes Parry said. Republicans increased their numbers by 2,928 during that time, with another 1,000 people registering with unaffiliated parties. Democrats added just 364 voters.
“It’s been rolling up for sure,” Parry said of voter registration increases in the county.
Still, half of all voters in Washington County are registered Democrats, while about 40 percent of the electorate is Republican.
In Greene County, registration increased by 575 new voters to 22,194, county elections director Tina Kiger said. Of that number, 316 are Republicans and 143 are Democrats. The Republicans also saw 240 people change registration to their party, while only 41 voters changed to Democrat.
But just like its neighbors to the north, Democrats in Greene County hold a nearly 2-to-1 advantage in voter registration over Republicans.
The registration deadline is Oct. 11 to vote in the upcoming general election. People interested in registering can fill out the forms in person at their county elections office, mail the forms to the office or file online by going to the state’s website at www.pavoterservices.state.pa.us. Anyone unsure about their current registration or polling place can also go to that website to check.
“It’s easier,” Kiger said of the online registration option that is new this year.
People who wish to register to vote must include either their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number.
The Washington County elections office will remain open an extra half-hour Oct. 11, accepting registrations until 5 p.m., said Larry Spahr, elections director.
Although the deadline to submit a new registration is 11:59 p.m. Oct. 11, Wanda Murren, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of State in Harrisburg, said, “We really, really are encouraging people not to wait until the last minute.”
If the clock is ticking down and the application of the person hoping to register to vote is missing information, the application might not be completed in time.
“Missing a field (in the form) at 11:55 is too big of a risk to take,” Murren said.
The state added online voter registration capability in the summer of 2015, so there is no prior presidential election year with which to compare volume.
“Anecdotally, we know registrations are running at a good pace,” Murren continued. The recent benchmark for voter registration was 2008, before Pennsylvanians could register online.
The Washington County elections office is on the second floor of Washington County Courthouse Square office building at 100 W. Beau St., Washington, PA 15301. The office phone number is 724-228-6750.
The Greene County elections office is on the first floor of the Greene County Office Building at 93 E. High St., Waynesburg, PA 15370. The phone number for the office is 724-852-5230.
Both elections offices are looking for poll workers and asking anyone interested in working at a precinct to contact them by phone. Voters in California’s first and second precincts will be voting in the borough building, 225 Third St., on Nov. 8 instead of in St. Thomas Aquinas Church.
Meanwhile, the final day to request the application for an absentee ballot is Nov. 1. The last day to submit those absentee ballots is Nov. 4. The Washington County elections office has been receiving between 50 and 100 requests for absentee ballots on Tuesdays through Fridays, and has gotten a total of about 1,300 so far. The office will stay open until 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 4, and absentee ballots must be inside the elections office by that time.
Staff writer Barbara S. Miller contributed to this story.