TUNKHANNOCK -- With the Pennsylvania primary two months away, some voters in our area are switching parties.
There is a whole month left to register for the April primary and already the Wyoming County Director of Elections tells Newswatch 16 she is seeing a big swing toward the Republican Party.
Inside her office at the Wyoming County Courthouse in Tunkhannock, Florence Ball has been one busy woman.
In just the past two months, the director of elections has seen hundreds more voter registration applications than in a typical year.
"Since January first, up until yesterday, we've had about 685 applications either party changes, cancellations or moved to their counties," said Ball.
According to Ball, most of those voters changing parties are going from Democrat to Republican or Independent to the Grand Ole Party.
Commissioner Tom Henry suggests that folks are tired of establishment candidates and someone like Donald Trump may be contributing to the increase in voter registration especially on the Republican side.
"I think it's a really good thing, people are out there and getting involved," he said.
According to some longtime Republican voters, there's a belief that politicians are out of touch with mainstream America, that may be one reason for an uptick in the number of registered voters, with a month before the deadline and two months before the presidential primary in PA.
"When you have a country as big as ours, I think people should have a say, that's the only way they'll have a say is to vote," said Ed Mead of Tunkhannock.
At the Yearbook Diner in downtown Tunkhannock, voters are happy to see any new voters, young or old. Some people believe Donald Trump's candidacy in one way or another has energized eligible primary voters.
"Finally, people have gotten the message. It's time we do something about the state of the country. It's a great opportunity somebody is different than anyone else who's run in a long time," said Ed Coach of Shavertown.
So far, Wyoming County has seen nearly 80 voters switch parties mostly to the Republican Party.
In other strong Republican counties, such as Wayne and Susquehanna, officials said they too have been busy and have seen a number of party switches again to the Republican side.
