DV Journal

Pennsylvania will spend about $10.6 million to update its voter registration database and election management system.

After a nearly year-long process that began with requests for proposals, the state hired Civix, a Louisiana company, to provide the software for the new system.

Secretary of State Al Schmidt told DV Journal the current SURE (Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors) system is more than 20 years old.

“It has been very reliable all this time and we’ve made update after update and upgrade after upgrade to keep it going. And it will continue to be used until the new system is brought on board, ” Schmidt said. But times change.

“It’s somewhat antiquated, like having an iPhone from 2003. You don’t want to change, but at some point, you’ve got to.”

While Pennsylvania has one database that shows registered voters, all 67 counties interact with it, he said.

“When a voter is registered, it’s the county registering them,” he said. “When a mail-in ballot comes in, it’s the county processing the mail-in ballot application.”

So while the Pennsylvania Department of State hosts the system, the counties use it “day-to-day.”

“One thing very important for me in engaging with the vendors was we worked closely with the county directors,” said Schmidt, a former Philadelphia election commissioner. “They and their clerks are the people who really use this system day in and day out.”

It still takes a human clerk to change voter registration. The state does not register or change voter registration. The counties do that.

“The Department of State does not cancel a single voter, or move a single voter or anything like that,” said Schmidt. “That work is entirely done at the county level.”

And what happens when a voter dies?

The state Department of Health notifies the Department of State, which then tells the county, Schmidt said. And when a voter moves, either in-state or out-of-state, the Department of State officials send the county where the person had resided a notification to take them off their rolls.

The state participates in the ERIC (Electronic Registration Information Center) system, which sends a notification if a Pennsylvania voter registers in another ERIC state. But if they move to a state that doesn’t participate in the program, that voter could fall through the cracks.

Asked if they are doing this upgrade in 2025 since it’s an off-year election, Schmidt said, “The first deliverable from the vendor is a project plan, which will have a timeline for when we should expect different parts of this to be completed. And that will give us a better handle on the timeline.”

“One thing I’ve been fully adamant about, having run elections at the county level for 10 years, is that you do everything you can to avoid any changes during a high turnout election like a presidential general election,” he said.  “You would not want to roll out a new system in a presidential general election, just as a racecar driver would not want to be driving a car for the first time in a race. You would want some experience with it to make sure you’re familiar with it at the county level to make sure any issues that arise are addressed well in advance of a high-turnout election, with an avalanche of voter registration applications and mail-in ballot applications and all the rest.

“We want our counties to be comfortable with the system they’ll be working with,” he said.

James Allen, director of elections for Delaware County, looks forward to the new system because of all the issues with the aging SURE system.

“The SURE system is old, more than 20 years old,” said Allen. “It used to be a multi-state system, but Pennsylvania is the only state using this rickety and very old SURE system now.”

When someone comes to vote, and the poll workers need to verify their registration, it can take 10 to 15 minutes, he said.

“It takes forever to process and verify voter ID,” said Allen. “It leads to lines and voter impatience.”

Scott Presler, a voter registration activist with Early Vote Action, is also frustrated by Pennsylvania’s system.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” said Presler. “They still have thousands of voters to clean off the rolls who are actively registered in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey.”

Civix will also provide new software for candidates to report their financing, lobbying disclosure, and for reporting election night results. It will be easier to search for this information.

“The more transparency for all this, the better,” said Schmidt.

Allen said, “We’re hoping the Department of State focuses on voter registration and voter history instead of the shiny objects of election reporting or campaign finance automation. We really need the voter registration and voter history to function.”

To that end, the state hired a chief modernization officer for $137,018 a year, officials said.

“That’s a good sign,” Allen said. “All 67 counties wish this process had gotten underway a lot sooner. We’re looking forward to it with a lot of impatience.”

The Civix contract includes an initial $1.06 million acquisition cost, which will be paid using an approved 2024-25 budget appropriation. The contract base term is four years, with three optional one-year extensions. Officials said the payments are tied to Civix’s phased deliverable requirements.

Republican strategist Scott Presler of Early Vote Action is sometimes called the “Pied Piper of early voting and voter registration.” In a recent interview with Megyn Kelly, he laid out his strategy to get enough registered GOP voters to give Donald Trump the edge in Pennsylvania.

Presler’s strategy hinges on grassroots voter mobilization, focusing on key demographic groups including truckers, Amish residents, hunters, and veterans.

“All of our time, talent, and energy is going just to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Presler told Kelly.

Presler emphasized the organization’s commitment to building a robust ground game.

“We have a state director and 50 paid field staff on the ground all across Pennsylvania’s 67 counties,” he said. “And I want to dispel any myths right here and now that there is no ground game. I’m a data guy, so let’s go over the numbers for a second.”

Presler highlighted the narrowing gap in voter registration between Democrats and Republicans over the last few election cycles.

“In 2016, the Democrats had an advantage of nearly 1 million more (voters) than ours,” he said. “Donald Trump won Pennsylvania by 40,000 votes. Fast forward to 2020. That data showed our advantage was narrowed down to 650,000, and Pennsylvania was ultimately decided by a very narrow 80,000 votes.”

“Now, where are we today? That advantage has been narrowed down to 333,000. If you take out inactive voters, that number is just 160,000. So Pennsylvania is very much in play.”

Presler expressed confidence in the Republican position, pointing to significant declines in Democratic voter registration and mail-in ballot requests.

“The Democrats are down at 416,000 mail-in ballot requests from where they were four years ago at this same time,” he said. “So, again, 2020 was decided by 80,000. They’re down 300,000 voter registrations and they’re down 466,000 mail-in ballot requests. Republicans, in my humble objective opinion, are in the best place possible to actually win Pennsylvania and therefore the presidency this November.”

He detailed specific outreach efforts targeting truckers.

“There are 80,000 truckers in Pennsylvania alone,” Presler said. “If we mobilize that group, we win. Truckers are busy serving us, the American people. They’re driving rigs on Election Day. I spoke with a wife whose husband, a Pennsylvania truck driver, did not vote in 2020 because he was working. We are pushing them to get a mail-in ballot and to vote early to ensure they lock in those votes.”

Presler discussed the campaign’s activities in the Amish community.

“There are 90,000 Amish in Pennsylvania, and I know in the 2020 election, only 2,000 Amish voted,” he said. “We are meeting the Amish where they are—setting up voter registration tables at key locations like Roots Country Market [in Manheim, Pa.] and The Green Dragon Farmer’s Market [in Ephrata, Pa.]. We’re emphasizing that the Democrat Gov. Josh Shapiro is waging a war on their values, including school choice and religious freedom.”

He also laid out a clear focus on veterans.

“We have 800,000 veterans in Pennsylvania,” Presler said. “After the recent vice presidential debates, veterans do not take kindly to stolen valor or the Biden administration’s mishandling of Afghanistan. We are going to VFW halls and American Legion events to connect with these voters.”

Presler’s strategy also extends to Pennsylvania’s hunters, where he identified another significant voter pool.

“Thirty percent of Pennsylvania hunters are not registered to vote—over 300,000 hunters,” he said. “We have been visiting every gun show, gun store, and archery range, and we’re even advertising in newspapers to connect with this crucial group.”

The courting of hunters comes after the Biden administration blocked federal funding for youth hunting and archery programs through the Department of Education, a decision criticized as an attack on the Second Amendment and lawful gun ownership.

Critics assert that decision reflects a broader agenda to diminish hunting rights.

In his group’s approach, Presler emphasized the importance of data-driven community organizing. He said the strategy his organization is using to turn out those voters mirrors that undertaken by former President Barack Obama in 2008.

“We’re not reinventing the wheel; we’re using a model similar to President Obama’s community organizing strategy,” he said. “When we register someone to vote, we collect essential information to follow up and ensure they actually vote.”

As Nov. 5 approaches, Presler stressed the urgency of mobilizing support.

“This election is Trump’s to lose,” he said. “I think numbers matter. The fact that Republicans registered 12,500 new voters in the last week while Democrats only registered 7,600 is a clear indicator of momentum.”

He included a call to action for his supporters, urging them to focus on turning out votes.

“The only thing that matters is ballots into boxes,” Presler said. “The last date to register voters is on Oct. 21. We need to use every single day to court voters and lock in those votes on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024.”

Presler discussed the plan at President Trump’s rally in Butler, Pa. on Oct. 5, featuring his return to the community where a would-be assassin shot the former president in the ear and killed audience member Corey Comperatore on July 13.

Presler emphasized the importance of grassroots voter mobilization.

“Pennsylvania, you have the power to change the world. Pennsylvania wins the White House,” Presler said.

He stressed the critical role that voter turnout would play, urging attendees to check their registration status and engage actively in the electoral process.

“Please, I ask you today, check your voter status. Make sure you’re an active voter registered at your current address,” he said.

At the Butler rally, Presler also courted union workers, a demographic he believes holds significant sway in the state, and college students.

“To our union workers, we want your vote. We want to keep jobs here in America,” he said.

Turning his attention to college students, he urged them to make their voices heard.

“To our sorority sisters and our fraternity brothers, you have the power,” Presler said. “If you’re going to school here in Pennsylvania, register to vote legally and lawfully here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”

Presler urged the audience to get out the vote.

“I feel this from the top of my head to the tip of my toes, I love our great country,” he said.  “President Trump took a bullet for us. Please use your ballot and have his back on Tuesday, Nov. 5, and deliver Pennsylvania for Donald J. Trump.”

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(This article first appeared in Broad & Liberty.)

For at least a year or more, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has been changing people’s voter registration information whenever someone registers a vehicle, according to a recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling on election issues. In most cases, the address for voter registration information is the same as the vehicle registration, so no changes are necessary. But in that small percentage of cases in which a person might have multiple domiciles or might be moving, the change could cause havoc for some voters.

Last week the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a ruling on election law that made headlines because it dealt with the much debated signature requirement for mail-in ballots, a decision that could impact some races this November.

But an underreported element of the Supreme Court’s ruling also detailed how PennDOT automatically changed a Butler Township citizen’s voter registration when he registered a vehicle using an address that was his second residence in a different county, but still not his primary residence.

The court’s majority opinion authored by Justice Sallie Updyke Mundy gives a concise explanation of the circumstances:

“[Shane] O’Donnell testified that he appeared at his polling place in Butler Township, Luzerne County on election day but the poll workers could not find his name on the voter list. They let him vote by provisional ballot because he had previously voted in the district. O’Donnell had purchased a home in McAdoo in June 2023, but he resided with his mother and brother in Butler Township from that point until March 29, 2024, while his new home underwent renovations. O’Donnell noted he had changed the address for his vehicle registration in December 2023, and he expressed that PennDOT must have made the change to his voter registration at that time.”

In a concurring opinion by Justice David N. Wecht, that change to PennDOT’s registration system happened sometime in the summer of 2023.

“That change requires persons registering vehicles to opt out of concurrent updates of their voter registration. Absent affirmative opt-out selections, the voter’s address is now updated to that at which the vehicle is being registered,” Wecht noted.

In their separate opinions, both Mundy and Wecht expressed serious concerns about the new practices.

Although it’s hard to pinpoint exactly when PennDOT began these changes, they seem to have been joined to Governor Shapiro’s decision one year ago to implement “automatic voter registration (AVR)” for “residents obtaining driver licenses and ID cards at Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) driver and photo license centers.”

Previously, persons applying for a Pennsylvania driver’s license or ID card could “opt in” for voter registration by checking a box on the application form. But with Shapiro’s executive order, the voter now had to check an “opt out” box if they did not want to register to vote at the same time as getting a license or ID.

The same methodology appears to now apply to vehicle registration.

Sen. Cris Dush (R – Jefferson), who chairs the senate state government committee, has been opposed to Shapiro’s AVR change last year, saying it was an illegal overreach by the executive branch. He seems to be even more opposed now that he has learned the changes extend to vehicle registrations.

“This is a very unusual situation for me when I’m agreeing with Justice Wecht on election issues where he says that ‘We are called upon to decide whether the election code really means what it says.’ Duh! It does mean what it says, and we’ve never given the executive branch the authority to do this, whether it’s the Department of State or the Department of Transportation or the two of them working in conjunction with one another,” Dush said.

“We have definitions under the law. The election code is probably one of the most precise bodies of legislation and it’s specifically designed to protect the election process from being manipulated because it is the ultimate choice of the electors as to who they want to select to hold positions of authority. And when you have individuals in the executive branch — which are literally and figuratively under the law in our constitution — changing the law, that’s an issue,” Dush added.

The senator’s frustrations seem to be shared by many members of the court.

“Although PennDOT’s rogue transfer of voter registration in this case ultimately did not deprive O’Donnell of the right to vote, it would be troubling if PennDOT has a practice of making such a transfer without statutory authorization, or even the voter’s consent,” Justice Wecht wrote.

“Any administrative decision by PennDOT or the Pennsylvania Department of State to transfer an elector’s voter registration without that person’s affirmative consent in conjunction with a PennDOT application to change a vehicle registration, as opposed to a driver’s license, is therefore of questionable validity, particularly where, as here, no party has identified a valid administrative regulation authorizing such action,” Justice Mundy said.

Since Shapiro’s AVR decision which will turn one year old on Thursday, about 55,000 more voters have been registered compared to a September-to-September comparison from the year before when voters still had to opt in.

The current paper/printable vehicle registration form does not indicate anything about voter registration. Meanwhile, a PennDOT “change of address” vehicle registration form has opt-in and opt-out boxes available. Yet other documents, such as this “statement of non-ownership of vehicle(s)” and this “out of state address/photo exemption” form clearly show that the forms will automatically trigger updates to voter registration unless the user checks the “opt out” box.

Although Republicans have expressed some heartburn about the AVR decision and Democrats have generally cheered it, the change seems to have benefited Republicans more. Statistics from the Pennsylvania Department of State show about 4,900 more Republicans have registered via AVR than Democrats. New registrations for independent voters still outpaced both parties through the same time period.

Despite the partisan advantage in his favor, Dush says the Republican tilt hasn’t changed his mind.

“From my understanding, the Republicans have benefited from this, but that’s not my point. The rule of law has to stand,” Dush said.

Requests for comment sent to the Governor’s Office, the Department of State, and PennDot, were not returned by the publishing deadline. If comment is provided later, it will be added.

(Editor’s note: The original version of this article said “PennDOT automatically changed a Butler County citizen’s voter registration…” when it should have said Butler Township. The article has been changed to reflect that information.)

For the first time since George W. Bush was in the White House, there are more registered Republicans than Democrats in Bucks County. Pennsylvania Republicans say it’s just one part of a push to increase GOP registrations in the Keystone State before November’s election.

As of Monday, Bucks County had 264 more Republican voters than Democrats. The last Republican presidential candidate to win this Philly suburb was George H.W. Bush in 1988.

“That’s major,” said Pat Poprik, chair of the Bucks County Republican Committee. Republicans lost their registered vote advantage when Barack Obama was swept into the White House in 2008.

“It’s a long time getting it back,” Poprik said.

As recently as February, Poprik said, Democrats held a 2,400 lead in the county. But she saw movement toward the GOP and the county party made registration a priority.

“A lot of people said, ‘It’s doable,’” she said. Various outside organizations came to help Bucks Republicans register voters. Voters first registered Republican at the pace of 100 a week, then 150 a week.

Christopher Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College, said the Bucks County flip is “a warning for Democrats as they have become more reliant on suburban Philadelphia for statewide success. While having more registered Republicans in the county boosts the prospect for Trump in the state, it will be interesting to see how these improved numbers translate into gains across Republican candidates.”

Activist Scott Presler and his Early Vote Action have been leading the charge to register new Republican voters in Bucks and statewide in Pennsylvania. He’s been working in the trenches to register Bucks County voters for five years.

“It’s done — this major Philadelphia suburban county, which voted for Hillary & Biden, is now red. This is huge, monumental, monstrous, & earth-shattering news. We did it!” Presler posted to X.

Poprik also gives credit to the Biden-Harris administration.

“The voters in Bucks County are fed up, not just with Joe Biden, but with Democrat policies,” Poprik said. “People see what’s happening when they go to the grocery store or get gas.”

Noting that she saw a local gas station Tuesday selling regular for $3.89 a gallon, she added: “All the resources we’re not using. Pennsylvania is a big fracking state.”

Presler has emerged as the pied piper of GOP voter registration. “Since 2016, people are saying Republicans are losing the suburban mom vote. We’re seeing suburban moms come back to the Republican Party,” he told DVJournal,

“One theme I hear from them, they say to me, ‘I can’t afford anything.’ They say, ‘Scott, my kids are eating me out of house and home.’ And ‘We can’t afford to take family vacations. We don’t have the money to spend we had four years ago.’”

And it’s not just parents.

“Two years ago, Pennsylvania Democrats had an advantage of 95,000 more registered Democrats aged 18 to 24. Now it’s down to 66,000, basically meaning 18- to 24-year-olds are trending to the right.”

And since Oct. 7, more Jewish residents of Bucks County are switching to the GOP after seeing how the Biden administration has treated Israel, he said.

“Four weeks ago, we flipped Doylestown Township red,” said Ed Sheppard, chair of communications for the Doylestown Republicans. “Yesterday, Bucks County flipped red.”

“Flipping Bucks County was a team effort spearheaded and inspired by renowned national activist Scott Pesler. No one group can claim sole credit for this flip. Numerous groups, elected committee people and candidates across the county all registered people sick of the Biden/Harris agenda, supported by Bob Casey.”

Republican strategist Christopher Nicholas gave credit to “grassroots Republican activists and leaders in Bucks County whose hard work has helped turn the county back red.

“As someone who grew up in Bucks County and cut my teeth there and local politics, it’s good news and it’s important. Now GOP candidates there start from a higher level, and that’s good news for us and bad news for our Democratic friends.”

While this is good news for the GOP, Borick said there is a lot of work for both parties to do before November, particularly with the Democratic presidential ticket still in flux.

“It’s clear that the change [from Biden to Harris] has helped increase enthusiasm among Democrats who were quite downtrodden about the state of the race. Its impact on areas like fundraising is obvious at this point, but just how much Harris will move the polls in Pennsylvania and beyond remains to be seen.

“In all likelihood, the shifts will not be dramatic given the entrenched polarization at this moment. But even modest movement can be incredibly impactful in a state like Pennsylvania where presidential races have been so tight.”

Poprik points to one more bit of good news for her party: Research shows voters who just registered or who switched their registration are more likely to vote.

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(This article first appeared in Broad + Liberty.)

Update: Sometime on Monday after Broad + Liberty had requested comment from the owners of Vote.pa, the website was changed so that the top option was “Check your Registration” as opposed to “Register to Vote.” The Internet Archive contains numerous captures of the website that show Vote.pa was offering voter registration.

If you were to visit the website Vote.pa, you can enter your personal information, and the website will register you to vote with the Pennsylvania Department of State.

But don’t be surprised a few weeks later if the website is also sliding into your text messages urging you to vote for your local Democratic candidate, or maybe begins sending you even more political mailers than you already get each fall.

Vote.pa sounds very much like the real Pennsylvania Department of State website: vote.pa.gov. The website’s logo — a deep blue outline of Pennsylvania with a white “vote” inside the borders — looks thematically similar to the blue keystone with a white “PA” used in official state websites.

But tucked away at the bottom of the page is the note that the site is a project of Commonwealth Communications, a 501(c)4 political nonprofit run by J.J. Abbott, Governor Wolf’s former press secretary turned political operative.

The website’s privacy policy page (which studies say less than nine percent of website visitors actually read those disclaimers) makes clear: “We may use your personal information in connection with our political efforts and activities.” And of note, Vote.pa asks for a phone number, while the state website does not.

And, “We reserve the right to share your personal information to third parties as part of any potential business or asset sale…” — meaning the website is well within its rights to sell data collected from a visitor.

Broad + Liberty reached out to Abbott through emails publicized both on federal filings as well as on Commonwealth Communications’ website. Additionally, we reached out through a phone number listed on its Facebook page. The requests for comment were not returned or were not successful.

At least two Democratic state senators have promoted the website using their campaign-associated X accounts. Elected officials have greater leeway to promote various political messages through campaign-associated accounts when compared to “official” state accounts used to interact with the public.

Last week, Sen. Judy Schwank (Berks) told her followers “Please make sure your voter registration is up to date,” and then linked to Vote.pa in the post.

“I really want to earn your vote, but first we have to make sure you’re registered to cast it,” Sen. Jay Costa (Allegheny) said, while also linking to the website.

If the senators were tricked by the website — or alternately, if they approve of using the website to build a political database — they aren’t saying. Requests for comment to both were not returned.

Additionally, Gov. Josh Shapiro attended a voter registration event at Penn State Abington last Sunday, which was organized by two groups that promote Vote.pa on their own websites.

Shapiro can be seen on social media posts at the event hosted by The Voter Project and “Show Up Strong ‘24.” The latter group has an email address on its website that belongs to The Voter Project, so it is possible the two groups are the same. But both websites point people to Vote.pa to register.

A request for comment to Shapiro’s office was not returned.

Some Republican communications have pointed people to a web URL that is not the Department of State’s website: http://votespa.com. That URL, however, redirects to the Department of State.

“Third-party organizations should under no circumstances collect people’s personal information under the guise of ‘voter registration,’” House Appropriations Chairman Seth Grove said.  “House Bill 1300, a comprehensive and bipartisan election code update bill I authored last session, would have outlawed this practice. Unfortunately, Governor Wolf vetoed this bill because HB 1300 contained a Voter ID provision. Wolf, of course, changed his position a few weeks later, but his veto has left scores of unresolved election issues. Vote.pa is an obvious attempt to steal information from voters or potential voters who are very likely looking for the Department of State’s website. I believe all elected officials should call out these websites as bad actors and commit to sharing official government websites.”

The Department of State did not respond to a request for comment. Additionally, the Committee of Seventy, a nonprofit that, according to its website, “advances representative, ethical and effective government in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania,” also declined to comment.

The Voter Project is run by Kevin Mack who is a partner in Deliver Strategies, a Washington D.C.-based political consulting and political mailing firm. The Voter Project was a key player in the distribution of election grants in 2020 that later became controversial and have since been outlawed in Pennsylvania.

Not long after the 2020 election, Kevin Mack’s professional online bio said he “served as Lead Strategist for The Voter Project in Pennsylvania which was instrumental in signing up over 3.2 million people to vote by mail and leading the soft-side effort to win the swing state in 2020.” The biography is no longer available on Deliver Strategies’ website.

The Voter Project and Vote.pa also have a close professional relationship. According to Commonwealth Communications’ IRS 990 form for 2022, Commonwealth spent $1.1 million with Deliver Strategies for consulting.

Commonwealth Communications was seeded by PA Alliance Action, a 510(c)4 political nonprofit. According to PA Alliance Action’s most recent 990 filing with the IRS, the group gave approximately $2.6 million to Commonwealth Communications, with as much as $2 million of that money specifically earmarked as being available for the creation of Vote.pa.

In a recent podcast interview, Montgomery County Commissioner Neil Makhija, who chairs the county Election Board, discussed participating in a voting roundtable hosted by Vice President Kamala Harris.

Harris said the federal government is going to make it easier to register to vote. One change is to hire college students through the work-study program to register voters.

At a “meeting with Voting Rights Leaders to Discuss the Fight for Voting Rights and Other Fundamental Freedoms,” as the White House labeled it, Harris touted the administration’s “work to promote voter participation for students.”

“For example, under the federal work study program, we now allow students to get paid, through federal work-study, to register people and to be nonpartisan poll workers,” Harris said.

The new policy is part of President Joe Biden’s 2021 “Promoting Access to Voting” executive order. On Monday, the Department of Education issued an advisory explaining how federal tax dollars can be used to pay students to register other students to vote. The money will be drawn out of Federal Work Study (FWS) funds.

“Voting is fundamental to our democracy, and our schools and colleges play an important role in helping our students become active participants in our democratic society,”  U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement.

Voter turnout in Pennsylvania is up because of voting by mail, said Makhija, a lawyer who taught election law at the University of Pennsylvania.

But “there are a lot of concerns about the right to vote and voter suppression,” said Makhija. A Department of Justice task force will train local election officials in security.

People who interact with the federal government human services, Social Security, and parks will be given material about how to register to vote in their state.

“The final piece that I’m really excited about is they changed the federal work study guidelines so that if you’re a student, and you’re on work study, you will be be able to get paid for working as a poll worker or working in a capacity registering voters. So this is great. Because we want young people to vote and we want young people to participate early,” said Makhija.

“We in Montgomery County are going to take extra steps with our 20 or so colleges to encourage young people and even get paid for it through work study, to participate, to serve as poll workers and to really be part of that bedrock of our Democratic process.”

Some of those students will be getting federal tax dollars to help create even more registered voters in  Democrat-dominated towns.

DVJournal asked Makhija about fears that partisan politics may be at play in the bid to pay college students to register voters. DVJournal noted the Swarthmore precinct where the students cast their ballots voted 85 percent for the Democratic presidential candidate in a state that the president carried by 1 percent.

“So, a Democratic White House is going to use taxpayer’s dollars to have college students register voters and work at the polls?” DVJournal asked.

Makhija said it will be “a whole of government process to enfranchise everyone…fighting for voting rights for everyone. We want to make sure that people in nursing homes (and) people with disabilities have a chance to vote by mail. All of these steps we can take to make sure that everyone has a chance to make their voice heard.”

Not everyone thinks paying college kids to register new voters is a good idea.

“While we support involvement in the political process, we do not support taxpayer-funded electioneering. This is another example of Democrats trying to stack the deck because they know they are playing a bad hand,” Pennsylvania House Minority Leader Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster) said.

“If Democrats, both nationally and in Pennsylvania, stopped obstructing comprehensive election reform changes, they would be encouraging more people to voluntarily participate in the election process rather than improperly expending taxpayer resources to cajole unenthusiastic participants to work for their electoral benefit,” said Cutler.

In nursing homes, residents are vulnerable to voter fraud, such as in an instance where a woman who never voted before suddenly cast a mail-in vote from her Delaware County nursing home. And while many officials like to downplay the possibility of voter fraud, especially with mail-in ballots, a recent Heartland Institute poll showed one in five people who they asked admitted taking part in some variation of mail-in voter fraud.

In Chester County, a group of citizens double-checked the voting rolls, finding a plethora of people who were registered to vote but had moved or given the address of an office building or other improbable location.

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A Democrat in the governor’s mansion. A Democratic majority on the state Supreme Court. And two elected Democrats in the U.S. Senate for the first time since 1947. (Republican Arlen Specter switched parties).

The Pennsylvania GOP entered 2024 knowing it had a lot of work to do — particularly in the Delaware Valley.

And early voter registration numbers show they’re making progress. Modest, perhaps, but progress nonetheless.

Official voter registration totals from Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties show party registration is growing, though Democrats still lead in overall registration totals.

The appetite of the electorate may be why Pennsylvania’s major parties both saw their numbers rise.

“I’m a firm believer that your voter registration status is a lagging indicator of where you are politically,” GOP strategist Chris Nicholas of Eagle Consulting told DVJournal. “It takes a while for you to say, ‘You know what? I’ve been registered X, but I’ve been voting Y the last bunch of years, so maybe I should become Y.”

National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Marinella has a more aggressive explanation.

“The word ‘Democrat’ means something different to Pennsylvanians now than it did years ago. The Democrat Party has become too extreme for the voters of the Delaware Valley. Voters feel the impact of extreme Democrats’ failed policies every day as prices get higher, crime is on the rise, and families are being torn apart by fentanyl.”

Delaware Valley Republicans made most of their gains in Bucks County, with GOP registrations rising from 193,123 last May to 195,000 today. Democrat registrations fell from 198,487 to 197,853, leaving them with a narrow advantage of fewer than 3,000 votes.

Compare that to a decade ago, when during the 2014 general election, Democrats had a solid 186,865 to 174,666 advantage over Bucks County Republicans.

“The whole thing is just dissatisfaction with what’s happening in Washington,” Bucks County Republican Party chair Pat Poprik told DVJournal. “It’s driving [formerly registered Democrats] to either the third party or to us. But it’s one common thing: We’re all watching this county.”

Bucks County Democratic Executive Director Zach Kirk did not respond to a request for comment.

There are about 80,000 unaffiliated and third-party registered voters in Bucks, up from 78,382 last May.

Other counties also saw GOP growth as well.

In Chester County, GOP registration rose from 149,567 in May to 151,505. But Democratic registrations rose, too, from 156,994 to 158,604. While that margin means Republicans can be competitive, it’s also a reminder of how far the party has fallen from 2014, when the GOP had a 148,355 to 126,551 advantage.

Other Chester County registrations include 18 voters with Conservative Party affiliations; 10 registered as Independent Republicans, and two voters total registered as ‘GOP’ and ‘Trump’ parties. There are also six Socialists, 14 Independent Democrats, two Democratic Socialists, and one each for Communist, Obama, Socialist Party USA, and the Socialist Progressive Parties.

Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s long-forgotten Forward Party had one registered voter.

For Montgomery County, the Republican Party added about 1,000 voters, bringing its total to around 204,000. Democrats saw a similar rise, going from 301,543 to 302,330. That 100,000 Democratic advantage is about twice as big as it was a decade ago. Holding steady in Montgomery County is progress for the GOP.

In Delaware County, however, the roles — and rolls — are reversed. Democratic registrations rose from 201,616 to 203,316, while GOP numbers ticked up from by fewer than 1,000 votes to 146,224. In 2014, Democrats had just a 172,601 to 168,744 lead.

The net result is a GOP that’s gaining but is still far behind. And, adds Jeff Jubelirer of Bellevue Communications Group, registrations don’t necessarily translate into votes.

“Most people don’t change their registration, even if they change their ideology. You look at the coalition that helped elect Donald Trump in 2016. Many of those same people were blue-collar Democrats who are now much more Republican.

“Did some change their registration? Sure. But I think a number of folks may be still registered as Democrats but are voting Republican,” Jubelirer added.

He said there are also moderate Republicans who generally find themselves supporting Democrats more than they had in the past. “They’re more the Reagan Republicans and the Mitt Romneys…the traditional country club business moderate.”

The Delaware Valley, once a GOP stronghold, has become largely blue. Jubelirer said migration from the heavily Democratic cities to the suburbs helped bring about the shift. That trend caused Democratic voter rolls to increase while Republicans lagged behind.

While much of the focus remains on the two major parties, trends show that unaffiliated voters are a force to be reckoned with nationwide. Gallup reported in January that 43 percent of Americans considered themselves independent. Republicans and Democrats were tied at 27 percent. That’s a historical low for Democrats and two points off the low of 25 percent for the GOP.

“Nobody wants to be a Republican or a Democrat anymore,” Nick Gillespie, editor-at-large of Reason magazine, told DVJournal. “These are dead parties that have ceased to represent the factions that they were created in the post-war era to represent. The independents are the place to go.”

The number is much smaller in Pennsylvania. According to Pennsylvania Department of State statistics, there are almost 1.3 million voters who belong to a Third Party or are registered Independent/No Affiliation.

It’s still a trend that analysts believe is worth noting.

“When I got active as a professional in politics here in the late 80s, the state was like seven percent independent,” said Nicholas. “And now it’s basically doubled that.”

Gillespie, who co-wrote a book called “The Declaration of Independents” in 2012, sees the change as something that started years ago. “This is a long-term structural trend that exists not just in the United States,” he said, pointing towards Brexit and the election of Emmanuel Macron as French president. “People are finally done with the zombie political and kind of cultural institutions of the postwar Europe.”

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Twenty-four Pennsylvania legislators filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Thursday against President Joe Biden, Gov. Josh Shapiro, and Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt, asking for an injunction to stop changes to voter registration that they claim are unconstitutional.

The Republican lawmakers claim Shapiro and Biden usurped the role of the state legislature to make laws concerning voting.

Last September, Shapiro announced people would automatically be registered to vote when they get their driver’s licenses or state government ID. However, because he did not go to the legislature to ask them to pass a law first, they said his action was unconstitutional.

“The citizens of Pennsylvania have been victimized by the extraordinary overreach of executive officials who have made changes to election laws with no authority to do so. If we don’t take action to stop this, there is no limit to the changes they might make to further erode Pennsylvania’s election system in 2024 and beyond,” said Rep. Dawn Keefer (R-York).

On March 7, 2021, Biden signed Executive Order 14019, requiring all federal agencies to develop a plan to increase voter registration and increase voter participation or get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts, the suit said.

The legislators claim that the action was unconstitutional.

In response to EO 14019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced federal health centers located across the country, including Pennsylvania, get involved in voter registration activities. The Department of Education “dear colleague” letter to universities, including those located in Pennsylvania, directing them to use Federal Work Study funds “to support voter registration activities,” whether they occur “on or off-campus.”

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development likewise instructed more than 3,000 public housing authorities, which manage approximately 1.2 million public housing units across the country, including Pennsylvania, to run voter registration drives in those units, the suit said.

Other agencies, such as the Department of Agriculture and the General Services Administration, began similar initiatives, the suit said. The GSA, which administers federally-owned buildings, including those located in Pennsylvania, is now available for voter registration drives by third-party organizations, regardless of whether the agency or agencies that own or operate out of those buildings have received an NVRA designation.

While Keefer chairs the Pennsylvania Freedom Caucus, not all of the legislators involved are members. Also, the group of lawmakers are not using taxpayer funds to pay for the lawsuit, which was filed by Attorney Erick Kaardal, a partner of Mohrman, Kaardal & Erickson, along with the nonprofit Election Research Institute.

“Over the past few years, we have seen nonlegislative officials in various states taking it upon themselves to set election rules,” said Karen DiSalvo, attorney and vice president of the Election Research Institute. “This is not the function of the executive branch. This case is an attempt to put an end to that practice in Pennsylvania.”

Keefer said the group chose Erickson because of his track record in the field.

“We talked to a lot of attorneys,” she said. They wanted to bring a federal rather than state lawsuit because of the nature of Pennsylvania courts. The state Supreme Court is majority Democrat. And by waiting until 2024, the legislators have standing since their names will be on the ballot this year.

Keefer is running for state Senate.

“It is abundantly clear that Gov. Shapiro’s commonsense action to securely streamline voter registration and enhance election security is within the administration’s authority. Any suggestion that the administration lacks the authority to implement automatic voter registration is frivolous. This administration looks forward to once again defending our democracy in court against those advancing extreme, undemocratic legal theories,” said Manuel Bonder, a spokesman for Shapiro.

“Gov. Shapiro remains focused on protecting our democracy and ensuring our elections are free, fair, safe, and secure.”

Amy Gulli, spokeswoman for the Department of State, said, “State law grants the Secretaries of the Commonwealth and Transportation broad authority to determine the form of Pennsylvania’s combined driver’s license and voter registration form. Contentions that the changes to the voter registration process through the Department of Transportation in September 2023 – which have resulted in a 44 percent increase in new voter registrations over the same time period two years ago – violate federal or state law are groundless. Those changes are, in fact, consistent with both the National Voter Registration Act and Pennsylvania law.

“With respect to the Department’s HAVA-Matching Directive issued in 2018, that too is fully consistent with applicable law and remains active,” she said.

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Since the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, Pennsylvania women have been outpacing men by 12 percent in registering to vote, according to voter data firm Target Smart. That is significant because both Democrats at the top of the ticket are outperforming their GOP opponents among women, the latest polls show.

A Pew Research Center poll released in August revealed abortion was an essential issue for 56 percent of voters this election — a 10 percent jump since March. While there has been no difference in the importance of the abortion issue among Republican voters since March, the importance among Democrat voters increased to 71 percent — a 25 percent jump since the landmark ruling.

In Montgomery County, female voters registering as Democrats has been six times higher than Republican registration since the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Comparing male voters, Democrat registration is around two times greater than Republicans. According to data, 511 women have switched to the Democratic Party, while just 211 women have switched to the Republican Party, according to Kelly Cofrancisco, Montgomery County’s director of communications.

In Bucks County, the shift in women’s voter registration hasn’t been as significant. Four days before the ruling, 19,061 more women were registered as Democrats than Republicans, according to Bucks County voter registration data. On September 6, the gap between Democrat and Republican registrations for women increased only by 559. During the same period, the gap between Democrat and Republican male registrations grew by 336.

Both Chester and Delaware County spokespeople told DVJournal they couldn’t provide complete information about the sex of newly-registered voters. However, since the ruling, the Chester Democratic Party added 1,471 more new voters than the GOP.

U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Chester) said abortion rights are a priority for her campaign, providing a distinct difference between her GOP opponent, business leader Guy Ciarrocchi.

“On one hand, Chrissy will continue to fight until Roe is the law of our land,” said Shane Wolfe, her campaign manager. “On the other is a candidate who supports the extremists in Washington and Harrisburg trying to pass a nationwide abortion ban without exceptions for rape and incest. Voters need to know where their candidates stand on this key issue. And since the Dobbs decision, we have seen a surge of volunteers, donations, and voter registrations to support Chrissy’s election.”

Ciarrocchi pushed back on Houlahan’s attacks.

“I don’t rely on the media to educate me on ‘what women think,” said Ciarrocchi, the father of two daughters and a son, who has coached girls’ softball for 23 years. “The Inquirer story, unfortunately, continues a pattern of dividing-up Americans into political ‘camps’—based on gender, race, geography, etc. and making generalizations.”

A weak economy, rising crime, and students falling behind are at the forefront of Ciarrocchi’s campaign because those are the issues that unite everyone, he said.

“There have been a lot of twists and turns and news stories during this campaign, but the issues have remained constant,” Ciarrocchi said. “Gas is too expensive, inflation is robbing us of our paychecks and savings, violent crime is on the rise, and too many parents feel powerless as their kids fall behind academically and emotionally.”

EMILY’s List, a pro-choice political action committee, has donated $11,600 during this current election cycle to Houlahan’s campaign according to Open Secrets.

That PAC also donated $34,845 to Rep. Susan Wild’s campaign. Wild also received $8,500 from another pro-choice PAC known as A Woman’s Place. Redistricting led Wild’s seat to lean more Republican, according to the Cook Political Report. A recent poll revealed that 47 percent of respondents would vote for Republican challenger Lisa Scheller and 43 percent for Rep. Wild.

Among Democrat Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon’s top ten donors this election cycle is A Woman’s Place. Thus far, Scanlon (D-Delaware/Philadelphia) has received $10,000. Her opponent, Republican Dave Galluch, is also unfazed by the uptick in voter registration among women, according to campaign manager Joe Luongo.

“From the start of his campaign, Dave has been focused on issues that are hurting families and women,” Luongo said. “Having been raised by a single mother, Dave knows first-hand the impact higher grocery and gas prices have on families, especially single mothers. Dave doesn’t need a poll to know that real leadership would never allow for a shortage of baby formula.”

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Conservative activist Scott Presler is hoping to create an army of “professional voter registrars” in his likeness to bring thousands of new Republicans to the polls in the midterm elections in battleground states like Pennsylvania.

The son of a retired Navy captain said he has gotten so good at the gig that he has even done it from the comfort of a hot tub.

Presler was in Bucks County earlier this week hoping to help elect Republicans like Pennsylvania gubernatorial hopeful Doug Mastriano and U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz.

Presler called Bucks County an “all-important bellwether” district that predicted presidential winners in past elections

“I’ve got the information, but I’m one human being,” Presler told the Delaware Valley Journal in an interview. “I want to create more Scott Preslers across the country. So my goal is, when I go out and knock with these members of the community, I want to teach them and train them for when I’m not here, so they can do the work without me.”

Presler’s first stop was the Doylestown Borough and Township Republican Club, followed by a speaking engagement before the Pennridge Area Republican Club in Perkasie.

Presler–dressed in a pink shirt, tight blue jeans, and cowboy boots–was quick to open up the voter-registration playbook with a few trade secrets for dozens of the area’s staunchest Republicans.

Part of his strategy centered on trolling prominent Democrats online.

Whenever President Joe Biden posts on his official White House Facebook page, Presler is quick to comment about how the Democrat’s failed “regressive policies” have hurt Americans.

“If you’re unhappy with Joe Biden, then please register to vote at your current address. I’m happy to assist any and all of you in registering to vote,” said Presler, showing volunteers an example of one of his boilerplate “anti-Biden” attacks that got him 480 “likes and hearts.”

It is a telltale sign to Presler that Americans are dissatisfied with Biden – and Democrats in general.

“That shouldn’t be happening. It should be angry faces,” he said. “I used Joe Biden’s White House Facebook page to register a new Republican voter. It’s so fun.”

Before deciding to enter into the realm of political activism, Presler was a dog walker. He remembers when, at age 24, he watched Barack Obama win re-election in 2012 and felt powerless. Then, in 2019, he was inspired to get involved by then-President Donald Trump’s criticism of Baltimore as a “disgusting, rat-and-rodent-infested mess” where no one wanted to live.

Those remarks propelled Presler to organize a cleanup of the city’s “most dangerous streets.” The event was a smashing success, with hundreds of volunteers helping pick up 12 tons of trash in a single day, Presler said.

He’s replicated the event in virtually every big city in America, from Atlanta to Philadelphia. And now he’s doing the same circuit again, this time focused on voter registration.

For his efforts, the Virginia-born political operative has been both praised and vilified as an “American Patriot” and a “nutty MAGA conspiracy theorist.”

He spoke at CPAC in 2021, and in the same stroke, found himself in the crosshairs of the Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center. Presler was slammed for serving as a top strategist for ACT for America, which the ADL and SPLC called one of the largest anti-Muslim hate groups in the U.S.

Presler’s speaking engagements in other cities have attracted counter-protestors and some have events been canceled. But not much of the criticism seems to phase Presler, who pushed back against the idea that he’s anti-Muslim by touting his support for Dr. Oz as he seeks to become the first Muslim to serve in the U.S. Senate.

And the political activist’s supporters don’t scare easily, either.

“We’re used to the name-calling, and we know it never amounts to anything,” said Kim Bedillion, president of the Pennridge Area Republican Club. “The Southern Poverty Law Center goes after many conservative, mainstream Republicans and Christian organizations and paints them as difficult. We’re used to that and we’re used to being called names like ‘deplorable’ and ‘Bible-thumper.’ We take that as a point of pride. If the Southern Poverty Law Center is going after Scott Presler, God bless him. We don’t get defensive; we just do the work.”

That work includes mounting voter-registration drives at gas stations, with “Pain at the Pump” signs in tow, ubiquitous Wawa convenience stores, Home Depots, and gun shops–all hubs for Republican voters, as Presler tells it.

He pointed to a “50-50 split” during a recent gas-station drive in a reliably blue part of New York as a potential harbinger for what’s to come.

He told volunteers to think as Democrats do in terms of their target audiences, noting they are likely to be at high schools, nursing homes, and “graveyards,” a riff on the old joke about dead people voting Democrat.

“You’re gonna have a lot of these angry mama bear events. Those people that show up are going to be the doers. Politics needs to be inescapable for the next five months,” he said.

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