Democrats outpace GOP in adding voters in Pa.
The number of registered voters in the state has surpassed 8 million.
HARRISBURG (AP) -- The Democratic Party registered 108,000 more new Pennsylvania voters than the Republican Party since the April primary, according to figures released Tuesday.
Of the 437,896 new registrants in Pennsylvania, 247,207 are Democrats and 138,864 are Republicans, according to unofficial totals from all 67 of the state's counties.
The latest round of registrations, which closed Oct. 4, left Democrats with nearly 4 million members on the voting rolls, a 7 percent increase. The state GOP ranks increased by 4 percent to nearly 3.4 million.
The number of registered voters in Pennsylvania stands at a record 8.2 million, a 6 percent increase since April.
The Pennsylvania Department of State released the registration figures earlier than usual this year amid intense efforts by both parties to expand their presence in the state.
Reaction
"Fantastic," said T.J. Rooney, the state Democratic chairman, who said the numbers affirmed an enthusiasm among party faithful that had previously been difficult to quantify.
"It means that the electorate in Pennsylvania, like most areas of the country, is charged," Rooney said. "Certainly they've come out in unprecedented numbers to embrace" Sen. John Kerry's candidacy.
Dan Hayward, executive director of the state Republican Party, said he was satisfied with the GOP's progress, noting that its voter-registration drive was carried out by volunteers while the Democrats relied largely on the organizational skills of outside nonprofit groups backing Kerry.
"We continue marching forward, building our party," Hayward said.
Many don't show up
What the numbers portend for President Bush and Kerry will become clear in Tuesday's presidential election, but the fact that people register to vote is no guarantee that they will cast ballots.
In the 2000 election, when the Republican Bush won the presidency, and in 1996, when Bill Clinton was re-elected, one-third or more of the registered voters did not show up at the polls.
At stake in the election are Pennsylvania's 21 electoral votes, the nation's fifth-largest prize.
In some of the largest counties, both parties made modest registration gains on each other's turf.
In GOP-dominated Lancaster County, for example, Democrats increased their numbers by 13 percent, to more than 82,000. In Democratic-controlled Westmoreland County, Republicans signed up 5,300 new members, more than the number of new Democrats, a 6 percent increase.
Percentage-wise, the largest increase in new registrations was posted by the fledgling Green Party, which grew by 25 percent to 15,000 members, from 12,000 in April. The Libertarian Party, the only other minor party that qualifies for its own column in the state's report, grew by 10 percent from 31,000 to 34,000 members.