Democrats continue outpacing GOP in Pennsylvania

Democrats continue outpacing GOP in Penna.

By Derrick Nunnally
Inquirer Staff Writer

In the two months since Pennsylvania's April 22 primary, Democrats have added more voters than Republicans in all but five of the state's 67 counties and increased their statewide lead by 40,566 voters by the end of last week.
Republicans have lost nearly 1,500 registered voters since the primary.

The trend is especially pronounced in Philadelphia's suburbs, where Democratic leads acquired in Montgomery and Bucks Counties in the primary season have already grown. In Montgomery County, Democratic Commissioner Joseph M. Hoeffel III reacted with some glee to numbers that showed his party had increased its advantage from 10,001 voters on April 22 to 13,784 as of yesterday.

"It should humble some of the braggarts of the Republican Party," he said, "and confirm that the county is changing."

Surge in registration for Latino voters in Pa., N.J.

By Michael Matza
Inquirer Staff Writer

In an effort to rally Hispanic voters locally, Democracia USA, a national civic-engagement group, has registered nearly 9,800 new Latino voters in Pennsylvania, and nearly 3,700 in New Jersey, since January.
Of the new Pennsylvania voters, nearly two-thirds live in Berks and Lehigh Counties and one-fifth live in Philadelphia, Democracia president Jorge Mursuli said at a news conference yesterday at the National Constitution Center.

Of the New Jersey voters, more than 90 percent live in Camden County. In both states, slightly more than half of the new voters are women.

According to Democracia, which has headquarters in Miami and local chapters in Philadelphia, Reading and Pennsauken, there are 294,000 registered Hispanic voters in Pennsylvania as of May 1; in 2000, there were 99,000.