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The deadline to register to vote in the November election is Tuesday, October 9th, and the latest state data shows voters registered as democrats outnumber Republicans by 1.1 million. That's down slightly from the 1.2 million voter advantage Democrats enjoyed in 2008, when President Obama won the election by 600,000 votes over Republican candidate John McCain.
State Democratic Party chairman Jim Burn says registration numbers don't factor into campaign strategy as much as one might think.
"You dont look on a piece of paper ever and just assume because your party has a registration advantage that you do not have to work," Burn said. "The minute you do that you've lost your registration advantage, you've lost the election."
Republicans say they'll have to make up for the Democratic advantage by focusing on voter turnout in the Philadelphia suburbs and other population-dense regions in western PA. Tim Kelly, manager for Republican David Freed's campaign for state Attorney General, says in a presidential year, high turnout can be expected in Philadelphia, which is overwhelmingly Democratic.
"Republicans have to perform very well to make up for the voter registration disadvantage and for traditionally high presidential year turnouts in the Philadelphia market," Kelly said. "So were certainly focused on turning out our voters and appealing to the moderate Democrats, the Independents and the straight-up Democrats."
Kelly added the numbers don't diminish his campaign efforts.
