Centre County Democrats Now Outnumber Republicans

The Centre County Elections Board confirmed today that there are more Democrats than Republicans registered to vote in the county.  The official count at the time of this press release is 36,379 Republicans and 36,767 Democrats. The County Elections Office said there are approximately 1,500 more completed registrations yet to be processed.  Since the voter registration deadline over ten days ago, the unofficial ratio for new registrations has been 95 Democrats to 1 Republican.
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Centre County Democratic Chair, Dianne Gregg said, "We are thrilled, but not surprised." Gregg added, "We have been seeing this trend for more than a year. Based on current trends, we have every reason to believe that the Democratic lead will continue to grow."

The almost 400 voter lead in Democratic registrations can be attributed to a vast number of enthusiastic Penn State students registering for the first time, as well as a substantial number of Republicans and Independents switching their party affiliation.  One political insider noted that even if the Republicans and Independents switch back after the April 22 primary, the overwhelming number of new registrations would be enough to sustain a Democratic advantage in the foreseeable future.

Pennsylvania's primary election will take place on April 22, 2008.