Blue Pennsylvania: The Good, and the We Can Do Better

The good news is that since January, Democrats have increased their numbers by nearly 25,500 voters, while Republican registrations have declined by more than 4,500.

This news is especially heartening in the counties where we will be working this fall.  Here is a breakdown of the numbers and the changes in our five-county area plus Lehigh.

County	Democrats	Republicans	Others	Democratic Change since December	Republican change since December
Bucks	193,815	201,992	88,154	1,095	-836
Chester	160,690	151,880	76,390	2,207	-209
Delaware	202,678	142,944	64,649	1,420	-1646
Lehigh	111,393	89,600	52,820	1,557	-420
Montgomery	305,274	207,909	110,137	2,742	-1088
Philadelphia	776,420	131,158	176,827	7,728	-397

While these numbers are encouraging, they conceal some problems that we have in the way our voter registration works in Pennsylvania. 

The Civics Center, an organization dedicated to registering as many eligible 18-year-olds as possible, has recently released a study of 18-year-olds registered by state.  Thirty states are included in the survey.  The results are captured in this chart:

As you can see, Pennsylvania is dead last.  Oregon’s 18-year-olds are registered at a rate over four times greater than Pennsylvania’s.  The Civics Center believes that pre-registration (allowing eligible students to sign up for automatic registration when they become eligible to vote) would go a long way to solving this problem, but who knows when our state will allow such a practice to occur.

What can we do?

PA Youth Vote is a non-partisan organization in Pennsylvania dedicated to “elevat[ing] youth voices, improv[ing] public school civics education, and empower[ing] youth as civic actors.”  Students play a significant role in this organization, particularly by registering other students.  PA Youth Vote has over the years helped to get a voter education and registration resolution passed in the School District of Philadelphia, and has at times succeeded in having paid faculty organize voter registration activities.  If you are concerned about good government and about the scarcity of few young registered voters in our commonwealth, consider making a contribution to PA Youth Vote.  You can do so here.

Finally, below are the list of seats that you should click on to see how you can make a difference.  We are also planning a postcard writing campaign as well as canvassing in these districts.  Respond to this email if you are interested in either of these actions.   Remember – we are only two senate seats away from cleaner air and water, good public schools and transportation, sensible gun laws, and affordable health and housing.

PA Senate

Candidate (Democrat)	District	Count(y/ies)	Incumbent (Republican)
Eileen Harnett Albillar	SD-6	Bucks	Frank Farry
Mark Pinsley	SD-16	Bucks/Lehigh	Jarrett Coleman
Chris Thomas	SD-24	Berks/Montgomery	Tracy Pennycuick

PA House

Candidate (Democrat)	District	Count(y/ies)	Incumbent (Republican)
Kristin Egan	HD-142	Bucks	Joe Hogan
Jeff Warren	HD-137	Northampton	Joe Emrick
Elizabeth Moro	HD-160	Chester/Delaware	Craig

Thanks,

Coleman