Enthusiasm builds on both sides for Election Day, even if turnout may underwhelm
Mike Tony | Herald-Standard
Fayette County Election Bureau Director Larry Blosser surveys the paper ballots organized for each of the county’s 78 polling precincts as the bureau prepared on Thursday for Tuesday’s primary.
Mike Tony | Herald-Standard
Fayette County Election Bureau Director Larry Blosser looks over the judge booth controllers and e-scan machines the bureau has been preparing for use Tuesday.
Leaders of both the Democratic and Republican parties are confident heading into Tuesday’s primary, even if turnout may not reach the levels it typically does during a presidential election cycle.
Westmoreland County Democrat Party Chair Lorraine Petrosky says enthusiasm among local Democrats has been “building and building and building” since last January, coming to a crescendo with Conor Lamb’s upset victory in March over state Rep. Rick Saccone, R-Elizabeth Township, in the old 18th Congressional District.
“I thought that it would wane,” Petrosky said. “But I guess not.”
Petrosky said that party supporters are organizing door-to-door efforts focused in various regions of the county in an effort to capitalize on that building enthusiasm.
“It’s working,” Petrosky said.
Washington County Republican Party spokesperson and Vice Chairman Dave Ball acknowledged that midterms have been historically unkind to the party in control in Washington, D.C. This time around, that’s the Republicans, who boast a majority in both houses of U.S. Congress as well as Republican President Donald Trump.
“It’s a question of making it a priority to your voters,” Ball said of mobilizing support. “If you don’t go out and vote, that’s a vote for the other guys.”
Ball said that the Washington County Republican Party is focusing on personal contacts as an approach to voter turnout, adding that asking a dozen friends to please come out and vote will yield higher turnout than calling random constituents through phone banking.
Local election office directors said that voter confusion over a remedial congressional district map adopted by the state Supreme Court in February has mostly dissipated.
“But I got a feeling on Election Day, you’re going to hear from those individuals, ‘Hey, these candidates ain’t ours, that’s the 14th (Congressional District),'” Fayette County Election Bureau Director Larry Blosser said. “Well, we are the 14th now.”
The area’s recent registration trend in favor of the GOP has continued so far in 2018.
In Fayette County in 2018 as of May 7, 330 voters switched from Democratic registration to Republican as opposed to 93 switching from Republican to Democrat. In Greene County, 74 switched from Democrat to Republican, while just 11 switched from Republican to Democrat. In Washington County, 276 switched from Democrat to Republican, while 106 switched from Republican to Democrat. Westmoreland County had the largest switching trend in favor of the GOP among the four counties, with 534 switching from Democrat to Republican and 209 switching from Republican to Democrat.
“The thing I’m the most happy about is it hasn’t reversed itself,” Ball said of the area’s recent registration trend toward the GOP. “It still is a Republican lean.”
Blosser expects that turnout among registered voters won’t surpass 25 percent or so, if it even gets that high.
“I don’t think there’s a lot of interest in this election cycle,” Blosser said.