Nov 7, 2023 By Mike Jones staff Writer mjones@observer-Reporter.Com 5 min read

Democrats in Washington County are hoping a continued surge in voting by mail – which could account for nearly half of their party’s voters in today’s election – will help offset the growing registration advantage by Republicans.

Of the 15,651 mail-in and absentee ballots sent to voters in Washington County, Democrats accounted for 11,285 of them while the GOP fell far behind with 3,287 requests, along with 1,079 for independents.

The overall requests this general election represented a 17% increase over the last off-year cycle in 2021, with Democrats accounting for nearly 75% of that uptick in mail-in ballot applications.

“Every election, the number of mail-in ballots has increased and it’s mainly by Democratic voters,” Washington County Elections Director Melanie Ostrander said. “There have been some slight increases on requests from Republican voters, but mail-in ballots are still the choice of a majority of Democratic voters.”

Ostrander is expecting an 85% return rate for mail-in ballots, which means Democrats could have nearly 10,000 votes in the bank before the polls even open this morning. That could help them gain some ground on the large registration advantage that Republicans now have as Washington County has shifted red over the last decade to make it a GOP stronghold on all county-level positions.

“I think it definitely helps us. There are so many factors that can affect same-day turnout,” Washington County Democratic Committee Chairperson Christina Proctor said. “If we’re voting ahead of time, there could be a snowstorm on Election Day and it wouldn’t affect our numbers.”

Democrats have overwhelmingly embraced vote by mail since it was approved in 2019 through a bipartisan bill within the Republican-controlled state Legislature and signed into law by then Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. The law serendipitously went into effect in 2020 just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, making it a safer and more convenient way for people to vote at the time.

“I think people are just becoming more comfortable with it,” Proctor said. “We’ve done it repeatedly since 2020. Before, you could only vote by mail (with absentee ballots) if you weren’t present. It’s easier, people are more aware of it, and they’re more consistent about it.”

But Republican voters have cast a wary eye on the process since former president Donald Trump’s false claims of fraud with vote by mail in the 2020 election, especially in Allegheny and Philadelphia counties where it took days to count hundreds of thousands of ballots.

“Republicans just don’t have absolute trust in the system, given all the voter irregularities in Philadelphia in the 2020 election. So it’s very hard for Republican voters to vote by mail,” Washington County Republican Party Chairman Sean Logue said. “The party, officially, doesn’t like the process, but because it’s the law of the land we have to use all the legal tools the Legislature has granted us.”

That means even promoting the process to Republican voters on social media and mailers, asking them to apply for mail-in ballots. But with such anemic vote-by-mail numbers again this year, Republicans will instead have to rely on a hefty turnout at the polls, which Logue anticipates will happen.

“We recommend you vote like your life depends on it. In a nutshell, we have two competing visions for Washington County,” Logue said. “We simply ask people to do their civic duty so Washington County can be the best, most economically viable county in Western Pennsylvania.”

Proctor thinks Trump has politicized the issue so much so that Republicans may never come around to voting through the mail.

“(Republican leaders) understand they need to make up that disadvantage, but unfortunately for them the well has been poisoned,” Proctor said.

The county’s board of commissioners is up for grabs following the impending retirement of longtime Republican Commissioner Diana Irey Vaughan. Republican Commissioner Nick Sherman is running with Electra Janis, while Democratic Commissioner Larry Maggi is running with Cindy Fisher, with three of them being elected to the board.

But Proctor said they also see an opportunity to win back some countywide row office positions due to the “chaos” with some Republican elected leaders in the courthouse over the past few years.

“Democrats were a little more energized this (primary) election cycle, and hopefully it holds for the general,” Proctor said.

Meanwhile, Logue is confident about winning all of the countywide races, but he’s also seeing their party’s voters motivated to show up at the polls for down ballot races, like school boards.

“All politics is local and because of the contested school board races, for the first time ever WCRP is investing in those races,” Logue said. “I think turnout will be steady.”

Mail-in ballots must be returned to the Washington County elections office no later than 8 p.m. today. County elections workers will start opening the ballots they’ve already received beginning at 7 a.m., and they expect to count all of them before the polls close.

All polling places are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Mail-In Ballots Requested in Washington County 15,651 – Total Mail-in Ballots 11,285 – Democratic 3,287 – Republican 1,079 – Independent

Washington County Voter Registration 142,017 – Registered Voters 67,934 – Republicans 56,248 – Democrats 17,835 – Independent

15,651 – Total Mail-in Ballots

11,285 – Democratic

3,287 – Republican

1,079 – Independent

142,017 – Registered Voters

67,934 – Republicans

56,248 – Democrats

17,835 – Independent