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Are Pennsylvania Republicans starting to vote by mail? Democrats still lead

Posted on by L. Dreeye
Are Pennsylvania Republicans starting to vote by mail? Democrats still lead

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More than 1.62 million voters returned mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania, resulting in an election turnout of at least 17% of the 9.1 million registered voters, according to state data.

Pennsylvania Department of State mail voting data shows the total number of mail ballots returned to county boards of elections over the past two weeks has more than doubled, with at least 566,735 more mail ballots awaiting return to those county offices before polls close in 8 o’clock on election day. Evening of November 5th. The numbers also suggest that a larger share of Republicans are starting to vote by mail, although Democrats still vastly outnumber them.

Turnout estimates are based only on the number of ballots returned and current voter registration totals, not a reflection of votes cast. No votes can be counted until the polls close on Election Day, and mail ballots cannot even be ready to be counted until polls open at 7 a.m. Tuesday, according to Pennsylvania law.

As of Thursday, two days after the mail-in ballot request deadline ended at 5 p.m. on Oct. 29, approximately 2.19 million voters had requested a mail-in ballot.

Will voting by mail in Pennsylvania break records in 2024?

Even if all requested mail-in ballots in 2024 are returned on time and counted, the number will likely not exceed the number of mail-in ballots cast in the 2020 election.

More than 2.6 million mail-in votes have been counted in the race between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.

Just 2.19 million ballots were requested for this year’s election, nearly 1 million fewer ballot requests than four years ago.

It’s worth noting, however, that the coronavirus pandemic is generally considered the main reason for the record number of mail-in ballots cast that year.

Pennsylvania lawmakers passed Act 77, allowing no-excuse mail voting, about a year before the last presidential election and months before the pandemic hit the Commonwealth.

While the number of mail-in ballots likely won’t outstrip the last presidential race, voters returned more mail-in ballots than the 1.2 million mail-in votes cast in the 2022 midterm race between Sen. John Fetterman and Dr. Mehmet Oz, a race over the entire state with the most votes that year.

Turnout in the Philadelphia suburbs is higher than in the state.

In nearly every one of Philadelphia’s four counties, vote-by-mail turnout exceeded the statewide turnout total.

In Chester and Bucks counties, about 23% of their respective 396,280 and 493,502 voters had returned mail-in ballots as of Halloween, the second-highest of all counties. Pike County has the highest percentage of returned mail-in ballots, with 29% of 47,228 voters.

Montgomery County has a mail-in turnout of 22% of its 632,919 voters, which ranks fourth in turnout with Wayne County, which has 37,368 voters.

Bucks are extended upon request until November 1st: Bucks County residents standing in line to vote on demand must be allowed to vote. What you need to know

In Delaware County, turnout was several decimal places lower than the statewide turnout (17.9%). About 72,650 mail ballots were returned, compared to 424,242 registered voters, or about 17.2%.

Philadelphia has the most voters (1.1 million) and the most returned ballots (162,401) in the state, but turnout is currently only 15%.

Democrats lead Republicans in mail-in turnout in each of Philadelphia’s suburbs by margins ranging from 19,382 ballots (Chester County) to 49,319 ballots (Montgomery County).

GOP sees gains, but Democrats still lead

About 32.6% of the 1.62 million ballots returned were from Republican voters, up 6 points from the share of GOP ballots returned last week. The share of Democratic voters fell 7 percentage points to 56% of ballots returned.

Trump and other Republican leaders have in recent weeks urged their supporters to “suppress the vote” by pushing for early voting nationwide after the Republican National Convention in July.

Walz to Bucks voters: Waltz’s campaigns in Bristol. This was his message to Bucks County voters.

Pennsylvania does not have “early voting” like some other states, which have set dates when voting is allowed the same as on Election Day, but voters can use an “on demand” option.

Voting on Demand is essentially mail-in voting without mail, allowing voters to go to a county office in person to request, complete and return their ballot in one go.

Under Pennsylvania law, mail-in ballots cannot be ready to be counted until polls open Tuesday at 7 a.m.

Democrats have historically favored voting by mail in Pennsylvania since 2020, when Act 77 of 2019 was passed, giving every voter the opportunity to vote by mail without having to provide a reason for not voting in person.

Roughly 30% of the nearly 4 million Democratic voters have requested a mail-in ballot in the upcoming election, compared with about 19% of the 3.7 million registered Republicans.