Shapiro’s new automatic voter registration is benefiting Republicans by a 2 to 1 margin
Salena Zito
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HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania — Sometimes political actions have unintended consequences.
When Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Montgomery County Democrat, implemented a new measure that allowed residents getting driver’s licenses and ID cards to be opted into registering to vote, some Republican elected officials and conservatives weren’t happy about it. State House Republican leader Bryan Cutler, for example, complained that the measure was implemented without going through the legitimate legislative process.
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“The governor is following the sad and misguided precedent set by his predecessor that recognizes our election laws need updating and modernized, but then disenfranchises the General Assembly from exercising its constitutional prerogative to make laws,” Cutler said.
Cutler said the “unilateral action” done ahead of the hotly contested off-year elections for county leaderships and the state Supreme Court will again cause many Pennsylvania voters “to continue to question the security and results of our system.”
Conservative activists in the state said the measure was going to give an advantage to Democrats. Shapiro dismissed that, saying, “I think what it’s doing is giving our democracy an advantage. We’re not checking your registration. We don’t care what your views are on issues.”
Former GOP candidate for governor Charlie Gerow said in an interview that day that he thought Republicans were getting ahead of their skis in their reaction.
“I think Republicans can benefit from this,” he said. “I think perhaps we should step back and look at this as an opportunity and not a disadvantage.”
It turns out Gerow was right.
Just shy of one month into Shapiro’s motor vehicle initiative, 3,194 Democrats, 4,052 independents, and a whopping 7,657 Republicans have registered so far. In short, twice as many Republicans registered in the state as Democrats, and even independent registration outpaced the Democrats by 1,000 votes.
Erie County Republican state Sen. Dan Laughlin said those numbers came from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, and he was pretty enthused that the numbers are starting to level the playing field.
As of Oct. 10, the Pennsylvania Department of State reports that, including both active and inactive voters, there are 446,467 more registered Democrats than Republicans. In July, those numbers had shown Democrats holding a 480,000 advantage over Republicans throughout the commonwealth, based on a data report done by PoliticsPA.
Laughlin said he wonders if it is the Republican’s message resonating with voters or just the Biden backlash effect.
“It’s important to me that voters are aware and supportive of our positions,” he said. “We as a party need to work on the issues that will make Pennsylvania a better place to live — it’s pretty simple when you really boil it down to that. We need to make Pennsylvania more competitive for business, we need to make our streets safe to walk, and we need a robust public education system.”
The new format, which went into effect on Sept. 19 of this year, uses a screen prompt at the driver’s license centers to direct applicants to a page to register to vote.
The driver can decide at that moment if they do or do not want to register. The measure is used in 23 other states and the District of Columbia, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
All eyes of both parties will be on how their candidates do this November when Pennsylvanians cast their vote for a new state Supreme Court justice and new judges to sit on Commonwealth and Superior courts, as well as whether two appellate judges on the Superior Court will get another term.
There are also hotly contested municipal races from county executive to mayor and school boards along with ballot questions, which will all be testing grounds for what platform and messaging appeals to voters. They also will show whose voters are engaged and how well Republicans have become at mail balloting after shunning it for two cycles in a row.
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Voter registration will also be key for next year when Pennsylvania will once again be a battleground state for both parties in deciding who will be president of the United States and one of the biggest races for U.S. Senate.
Republican businessman David McCormick and incumbent Sen. Bob Casey Jr., a Scranton Democrat, are already engaged in a general election race for that seat that will be decided in November 2024.