ERIE, Pa. — For some time now with the 2024 presidential election, Pennsylvania has been regarded as a battleground state that could determine the winner of the White House race.
And the northwestern county of Erie has been looked at as a bellwether community for where the Keystone State's 19 electoral votes will go. 2 On Your Side traveled across state lines to see what's happening down there and also how Western New York volunteers are involved.
We have seen the candidates crisscrossing the commonwealth to our south. There have been some big city rallies but also a keen focus on Erie, Pa.
The question of why may be answered first with some proud political perspective from political veterans.
Erie County, Pa. Republican chairman Tom Eddy said that "over the last 10 major elections — not just local but major elections, statewide and national — Erie has picked the winner every time."
Erie County Democratic chairman Sam Talarico added: "If you look at the demographics of Erie County as far as rural, urban and suburban percentage-wise, we mirror the state of Pennsylvania, so we're just a microcosm of Pennsylvania."
The campaigns get it. The Harris team chartered two buses to take Western New York Democratic volunteers down to canvass knock on doors. Volunteers from the Western New York Conservative Party followed suit with a 90-mile trip for Trump support.
Campaign volunteer organizers have some observations about those voters they meet in Erie, including their thoughts about those dueling lawn signs.
Steven Meyer, who is with Erie County, N.Y., Democratic Party, noted: "We got a lot of voters there who are still undecided, and some voters who might not make it out to vote unless we remind them to."
Russ Gugino, of the Western New York Conservative Party, helped lead supporters for Trump. He spoke about one Erie resident he met who declined the offer of a Trump lawn sign since he did not want any problems as a registered Democrat.
"He didn't have a Trump sign," Gugino said. "He didn't want one, so he said there are a lot of Democrats who are going to be voting for Trump this year."
And likely vice versa as some Erie Republicans may end up considering a vote for Harris.
Whatever the case there is a truly razor thin margin as political observers saw major switches in party registration with the Democrats suffering the loss in recent years of about half of its their margin with registered voters in Pennsylvania.
Talarico explained: "Breakdown of Democrats versus Republicans in the state. ... It used to be 600,000 or 700,000. It's now down to 300,000. Democrats with just over 300,000 advantage in membership and that makes for a close election."
By contrast that margin of Democrats over Republicans is nearly double, or about 3 million, in New York State.
Eddy pointed out: "If you go back to the 2020 numbers Trump lost here by 1,200 votes, and then in the state of Pennsylvania, I think around 80,000 votes. "
Also sparking interest in Erie, Pa., is interest from around the world. There was a reporter from Belgium doing an interview with Talarico just before 2 On Your Side spoke with him.
And the interest in Erie also tuned to the chance to see the candidates or their running mates in person with all those campaign appearances.
"I think it does raise the excitement," Eddy said. "You know people. ... I've been to may of these Trump rallies and it's fun. And you go there, there's a whole lot of people waiting in line for hours."
Talarico also counters with his observation.
"Enthusiasm here has been off the charts," Talarico said. "When Kamala Harris entered the race we gained about 300 volunteers in a matter of two or three weeks."
But a significant issue has surfaced for Erie County's Board of Elections Office with a problem involving mail-in ballots. The board was actually sued on Wednesday by the Pennsylvania State Democratic Party with the claim that the right to vote could be violated and demands for corrective actions.
Republicans are concerned, as well, with perhaps an impact that could cause delays with vote tabulation.
"The courthouse is opening," Eddy said. "They just called here yesterday and said that they're going to open up on Saturday and Sunday from 8 to 2 for anybody that requested a ballot, but hasn't yet received it, that they can vote in person. It's creating a problem, and people are getting very concerned about this."
Talarico also noted: "There have been a few glitches in the mail voting system in Erie County. Just some people didn't get their votes on time, so we expect delays, and now our elections office has all the modern equipment to open the ballots the same day, but we expect the results to come in slowly in Erie County."
Overall, the state of Pennsylvania has seen other issues with voting. District attorneys in Lancaster and York xounties, south of Harrisburg, are investigating fraudulent voter registration applications with about 60 percent of some 2,500 such application determined to be fraudulent and the possibility of forgery charges. There were verification issues with other registration applications as well.
There was another legal challenge by Republicans to early voting line issues in Bucks County, a suburban area of Philadelphia.
In Washington County, southwest of Pittsburgh, election officials have actually hired 20 armed private security guards to safeguard polling places and the voting process.
Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt, who is a Republican from Philadelphia, has actually been doing daily afternoon briefings for the media to answer any submitted questions and provide updates.