SCRANTON -- Donald Trump's candidacy for president may have something to do with a shift in voter registration in Lackawanna County.
Hundreds have switched to the Republican Party leading up to next month's primary.
The Lackawanna County Board of Elections office in Scranton has been busy as it normally is this time of year. The deadline to register to vote in the primary is Monday, but officials say the kind of things people are showing up here to do have changed.
As Director of Elections for Lackawanna County, it's part of Marion Medalis's job to keep track of stats. This election season in particular has stood out.
She showed us a stack of names -- about 1,700 registered voters -- who have switched to the Republican Party since December. Most were previously Democrats.
It's always busy in this office before elections, but this year for that different reason.
"Because of the interest in the candidates on the Republican ballot, it has piqued interest to voters also," said Medalis.
John Rosemergey from Clarks Summit had been a Democrat for almost 50 years. He switched for one specific reason.
"I want to vote for Donald Trump," he said. "I think the Republican Party is just going above and beyond trying to get him out of there, and you know, like, it's not fair at all."
Valerie Bonacci used to live in Ohio. She switched to vote for Ohio Governor John Kasich, believing her vote will count more as a Republican.
"I feel very strongly that right now, with the Republican side of things, side of the race, being divided by so many more people, it makes it more of a challenge for anyone to get a majority."
The climate of this election season is coupled with a local effort to recruit more Republicans. The Lackawanna County Republican Party has sent out mailers most recently trying to register new Republicans and influence voters to switch.
Director Lance Stange says they had a modest goal of 1,000.
"We have lots of different tactics we've employed, and happy to say that we surpassed that probably before January, and as of now, we're at about 2,500 new Republicans in the county and we're happy to have all of them."
As a reminder, the last day to register to vote in time for the April 26 primary is this Monday, March 28.
