03/25/08 —

Guila Almon of Conneautville picked up a voter registration application form on Monday afternoon to take to her husband to complete before the Crawford County Courthouse closed on the final day to register to vote before the April 22 primary election in Pennsylvania.

“My husband wants to be a Demo-crat, not Republican,” she explained, noting he was already registered to vote. “He’s switching from Republican. He’s been a Republican all his life,” she said of her 55-year-old husband. Why was he changing? “He doesn’t trust (Barack) Obama.”

Almon wasn’t alone in changing party registration to Democrat in order to vote for a Democratic nominee come primary election day.

Ten days ago, Democrats numbered 24,446 — up 515 from the end of November.

Democrats added another 503 to their party by the close of the day Monday, meaning 1,018 people have either switched party registration or registered for the first time —taking the new Democratic total to 24,949, an all-time high for the Democratic Party in Crawford County.

And, based on the trend and the fact there were stacks of registrations that have not yet been processed, the number will increase even more before election day.

Melanie Mushrush, director of Crawford County Office of Voter Services, said the table with chairs and application forms that Almon visited was set up to make it more convenient for the expected number of people registering on the final day.

“It’s been a steady stream all day,” said office clerk Linda Chatley, noting that it was the busiest day she has seen for a primary election for a long time — if ever.

Crawford County Republic-an Chairman Robyn Sye agreed. “I have never seen it like this at primary time,” she said, noting there have been long lines during a presidential general election, but never at primary elections. “There’s been a lot of changes (in registration) and I’m not sure whether they were Independent or ‘no party.’ Some were Republican,” she said, noting she knows the GOP’s “numbers have dropped.”

Ten days ago, the GOP had 29,955 voters on the rolls. That number went down another 287 to 29,668 as of 4:30 p.m.

She attributes that to the fact that for the first time in a long time Pennsylvania’s primary may have an impact on who is nominated.

Republican Sen. John McCain has wrapped up the GOP nomination. Sye said by people changing party registration it shows they “want to have a voice,” noting some want to “affect the Democratic primary for whatever reason.”

Sye is chief financial officer for the county and her office is right off the hallway where the table was set up so she saw the number of people registering throughout the day. Listening to the handful of people who switched, the message was that most wanted to vote against Obama.

Sandra Derby of Meadville echoed Almon’s sentiments. “I don’t want to see Obama (win). I wasn’t sure if I was changing,” she said, but then she did. “I need to do something for Hillary (Clinton),” she added with a smile.

Although many were changing to the Democratic Party, Matt Gonzalez of Meadville switched from Independent to Republican. “I changed to Republican to vote for Ron Paul in the primary,” he said of the other GOP candidate on the ballot. “I agree with his idea of following the law,” referring to Paul’s platform of the country following the Constitution more. Gonzalez didn’t want until the last minute to change, but was there to “get information for volunteers for the Ron Paul campaign,” he said.

However, Garrett Kimple, 18, of Linesville was registering for the first time and is supporting Obama. His father waited in the hall for his son to return from the Office of Voter Services. “He feels he can make a difference,” said the older Kimple of why his son chose Obama.

When 4:25 rolled around, the last person to turn in a voter registration card was John Wells of Vernon Township, who was changing from Republican to Democrat. “That noise you hear in Michigan is the earthquake from my father turning over in his grave,” he laughed.

Asked why he waited so long, Wells said, “Because I was baby-sitting. I had to wait until their mother came home.”

Why did he change registration? “So I can vote against Obama. I will change back,” he said about returning to the Republican side.

Chatley said as busy as the workers were Monday and as much work as they will have to complete the applications, she knows there will be more work after the election.

“All the work will be after the election when they will be changing back,” she sighed.



Jane Smith can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at jsmith@meadvilletribune.com.