Race for Pennsylvania: Democrats dominate early voter turnout

(NewsNation) — Nearly twice as many Democrats than Republicans have voted early in Pennsylvania — a swing state that played a pivotal role in the outcomes of the past two presidential elections.

Tuesday marks Pennsylvania residents’ last chance to request mail-in or absentee ballots. With more than 1.4 million early ballots cast, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are in a close race that could flip the state.

Registered Democrats had returned 849,849 ballots as of Tuesday, compared to the 468,067 that registered Republicans have returned so far, according to state election data.  

Early voting data, however, only shows a person’s party affiliation — not how they voted.

Election officials need to process mail ballots before they can count them — an undertaking that varies by state. It often takes several days or weeks to finalize election results and certify a winner.

Trump maintained a narrow lead over Harris Tuesday in Pennsylvania. That’s according to the latest forecasts from NewsNation’s partners Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ) and The Hill, which predict Trump has a 51% chance of winning in the Keystone State.

The opposite was true as recently as Oct. 17. The candidates were tied until Trump gained a slight lead on Oct. 21.

Pennsylvania is home to 19 electoral votes — the most of any battleground state this election cycle, DDHQ noted. Pennsylvania hasn’t backed a Republican presidential candidate by double digits since Richard Nixon in 1972.

Trump narrowly carried the state by 0.7%  in 2016 but lost his hold on Pennsylvania to Biden in the 2020 election.

Ronald Raegan was the last Republican to win the state’s electoral votes twice.

Here’s a closer look at Pennsylvania’s early voter turnout as of Tuesday morning:

Total ballots returned:  1,473,825

• Democratic: 849,849
• Republican: 468,067
• Other: 155,909

Total mail-in ballots returned: 1,435,280

• Democratic: 831,501
• Republican: 452,875
• Other: 150,904

Total absentee ballots returned: 38,545

• Democratic: 18,348
• Republican: 15,192
• Other: 5,005