14 journalists’ take in one day on Pennsylvania’s front lines in the battle for presidential voters

April 29--

Ground

Game

On the front lines for votes in battleground Pennsylvania

By Jeff Gammage / Staff Writer, [email protected]

Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016

O

n Wednesday, roughly 30 days before the nation chooses its next president, the Inquirer and Post-Gazette dispatched reporters across Pennsylvania - and found the two presidential candidates weren't the only ones on the run.

The state of the state? Pitched. Pennsylvania is a crucial battleground, a state some say could tip the race. Atop the election pyramid are the nominees whose every movement becomes news.

At the bottom, mostly unseen and anonymous, are the people who actually shape politics, energize campaigns and make elections happen: the volunteers, poll workers, organizers, civil servants, third-party promoters and undecided voters taking steps to inform their decision.

As Nov. 8 nears, each day for them grows more significant, each hour more valuable. And signs of the election, literal and figurative, sprout across the state.

As just one day shows.

Select a county:

Dauphin

Chester

Allegheny

Clinton

Lancaster

Centre

Northampton

Lackawanna

Explore the state map

Dauphin County

Ed Snell at his Susquehanna Township home with a Trump-Pence sign. "Trump is Trump. He says what he believes," says Snell, 79. (ED HILLE / Staff Photographer)

Clinton volunteer Julie Sherman in the campaign's Harrisburg headquarters. "This election is bringing out the worst in so many people, and bringing out the worst in our country," she says. (ED HILLE / Staff Photographer)

Previous

Next

Susquehanna Township - Ed Snell has been arrested, jailed, threatened and cursed at for more than three decades.

It hasn't stopped him from displaying graphic anti-abortion signs among the hundreds he plants outside his brick house here, on one of the busiest roads in and out of Harrisburg.

The presidential election has Snell so jazzed that he made new signs, including one urging Catholics to vote against Hillary Clinton. The signs that support Donald Trump tend to get stolen, so he secures them with locks.

"[Trump] says some goofy stuff sometimes, but it's all right," says Snell, 78. "Trump is Trump. He says what he believes."

A few miles away, at the Clinton campaign office in Harrisburg, Julie Sherman completely agrees - Trump is Trump.

She can't imagine him with the power to appoint Supreme Court justices whose rulings could guide the nation for decades. So she signed up as a Clinton volunteer, and carts home-cooked food to the office for the younger workers.

"This election is bringing out the worst in so many people, and bringing out the worst in our country," Sherman says. "I sometimes have to hold my breath. And hold my tongue."

Return to top

Chester County

Steve Rosily, a recent West Chester University grad, signs in at the Republican volunteer gathering at Barnaby's. (DAVID SWANSON / Staff Photographer)

Rick Loughery, 32, chairman of the Chester County Young Republicans, greets GOP volunteers at Barnaby's in West Chester. (DAVID SWANSON / Staff Photographer)

Derek Rothenberger teachers a class of poll worker training at 601 Westtown Rd. in West Chester Wednesday October 5, 2016. (DAVID SWANSON / Staff Photographer)

Mike Parrish hosts a fundraiser at Salool 151 in West Chester Wednesday October 5, 2016. (DAVID SWANSON / Staff Photographer)

Mike Parrish hosts a fundraiser at Salool 151 in West Chester Wednesday October 5, 2016. (DAVID SWANSON / Staff Photographer)

The scene at a poll worker training at 601 Westtown Rd. in West Chester Wednesday October 5, 2016. (DAVID SWANSON / Staff Photographer)

Previous

Next

West Chester - Jean Moulder joins more than a dozen people gathered for a morning meeting at the Chester County government services building. Moulder, 70, helps run a precinct of 1,200 voters in Sadsbury Township, a rural community on the county's western edge.

She's been a poll worker for so long she's lost count. Twenty-five years? Thirty? But she comes to the two-hour training to brush up, knowing election day will be busy.

"I know it's going to be a crowd, and you want to keep the people calm," she says.

More than 348,000 voters are registered in Chester County. Among the Philadelphia suburbs, a key to Pennsylvania victory for either nominee, it's the only county where Republicans hold an edge.

With the registration deadline days away, county elections workers are logging 12-hour shifts - "and we're here all weekend as well," says Kara Rahn, director of voter services. She's expecting turnout of 80 percent next month, more than the landmark 78 percent in 2008.

It's not a Trump effect, data shows. New male voters in Chester are almost evenly split between the two parties - and Democrats count a larger share of voters under age 24.

Not that county Republicans aren't trying. A mile or so away, about 40 West Chester University Young Republicans and party officials gather hours later at Barnaby's bar and restaurant, munching on meatballs and chicken tenders - and yes, drinking beer - while enlisting new voters and volunteers.

Vikram Sahni, a 20-year-old student, says he saw no need to register back home in California, because a Republican vote there would be meaningless in the overwhelmingly Democratic state.

But Pennsylvania is different. "Here," he says, "it's a swing state, and my vote obviously counts."

And Trump will get it.

Return to top

Allegheny County

Hillary Clinton supporter Deborah Bogen shares a duplex in the Pittsburgh's Highland Park with neighbors planning to vote for Donald Trump, but they get along despite differing political views. (Steve Mellon / Post-Gazette)

Will Katz, a regional organizing director for the Clinton campaign, at work in the candidate's office in the Brookline neighborhood of Pittsburgh. (Steve Mellon / Post-Gazette)

Notes written by volunteers and visitors at the Clinton campaign office in Brookline. (Steve Mellon / Post-Gazette)

Trump volunteer Ann Ritter tapes a sign to the door of the campaign's headquarters in Monroeville, Pa. (Steve Mellon / Post-Gazette)

Celeste Taylor (center) greets a friend on Monticello Street in the Homewood neighborhood of Pittsburgh, where she and Tim Laslavic were registering voters for the non-partisan Black Political Empowerment Program. (Steve Mellon / Post-Gazette)

A note in the Clinton campaign's Brookline office. (Steve Mellon/Post-Gazette)

Trump volunteer Ann Ritter of Monroeville says religion plays a big role in her support for Donald Trump. (Steve Mellon / Post-Gazette)

Maureen Egenlauf, a registered Democrat who plans to vote Republican, stops by the Trump headquarters in Monroeville by buy Trump signs. (Steve Mellon / Post-Gazette)

As the bumper stickers on her car show, Deborah Bogen of Highland Park supported Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary but now supports Hillary Clinton. (Steve Mellon / Post-Gazette)

A sign on a storefront in Pittsburgh's Garfield neighborhood urges citizens to vote. (Steve Mellon / Post-Gazette)

Trump buttons for sale at the Trump headquarters in Monroeville. (Steve Mellon / Post-Gazette)

Previous

Next

Pittsburgh - Nobody is home at half a dozen houses - and then at a half a dozen more.

That doesn't stop Juice Bryant. He's what campaign organizers call "a mover."

That is, if you stop to check your cell phone, by the time you look up he's a half-block away, onto the next house and voter.

Bryant lives up to the label as he and Glenn Grayson Jr., a One Pittsburgh organizer, work their way through a racially mixed, working-class neighborhood in the city's East End. Canvassers make $15 an hour, the same minimum wage proposal their organization supports.

Their target: Registered Democrats who only sporadically vote. The kind of who could prove crucial to Clinton - but aren't always easy to find.

Bryant finds one: He rings a doorbell, and Kemeall Scott appears at a third-floor window.

He shouts his pitch from the sidewalk, telling Scott he needs her to remember to show up next month. "I'm out here pounding the pavement," he says. "We've got to vote, for our ancestors."

Good news, he finds: Scott is committed to Clinton. She signs a pledge card, promising to vote on Election Day. That's important. People who sign, Grayson says, vote 75 percent of the time.

Monroeville - Warm sunlight greets Ralph Damico as he leaves Mass at St. Bernadette Church. He helps load folding chairs into the back of his vehicle as several seniors get in. They're preparing for a prayer vigil outside an abortion clinic.

Damico's opposition to abortion is not the main reason he's wearing a white T-shirt proclaiming "Trump: Make America Great Again." He worries about the national debt, illegal immigration, and declining morality.

"I can tell you a lot of things that aren't so complimentary of Mr. Trump," says Damico, 77, a retired marketer for Time and affiliated magazines. But the GOP nominee "is an original. He's not a politician."

True or not, it's an impression resonating with some in this once solidly white middle-class Allegheny County community, where residents face the same hikes in crime and drops in standard of living affecting older suburban communities.

Registered Democrats still solidly outnumber Republicans here. But at a campaign office in the nearby Parkway Building, Trump supporters stream into a campaign office seeking buttons, bumper stickers and other swag. Behind the counter waits Peggy Bukovac, a 64-year-old North Versailles (she says "Ver-SALES") pronounced woman with a flag-adorned T-shirt that boasts "The Basket of Deplorables for Trump."

Marie Reynolds of Wilkins Township leaves the office with a clutch of Trump yard signs.

"If we don't get him elected, we will not have a nation any longer," says Reynolds, 52, a business owner. "We want to keep our guns and we don't want terrorists."

Brighton Heights - In search of Democratic votes, Will Reynolds Young isn't having much luck. He met closed doors and one Trump supporter.

On the bright side, no one came to the door in their underwear. That's happened before.

"But he was really nice," Reynolds Young says.

A member of UFCW Local 23 at the Market District in Robinson Township, he and coworker Matthew Lewis have knocked on doors across southwestern Pennsylvania.

Their biggest challenge today, as they traverse this neighborhood north of downtown Pittsburgh: Raymond Robinson, a voter who says he won't support Trump, but isn't committed to Clinton.

Robinson, who is African American, said he remembered how as a teenager during the Clinton administration, "All the cops came on the streets and started chasing us, whether we were doing anything or not. So [Bill Clinton's funding of] 100,000 cops on the streets wasn't helping me."

Reynolds Young talks to Robinson for 10 minutes, a long time on a door step, discussing the value of political experience, the danger of cynicism. When they're done, it's not clear if Robinson is any more likely to back Clinton.

Still, Robinson is glad of one thing. "It's nice to have an intelligent conversation," he says.

Return to top

Clinton County

Alessandro Elia, a senior at Lock Haven University, waves a Trump flag in silent protest while Gov. Wolf addresses a crowd gathered for a Democratic voter registration on campus. (MICHAEL BRYANT / Staff Photographer)

State Rep. Mike Hanna greets members of the audience at a Democratic voter registration event in Lock Haven, Pa. The event was also attended by members of the Young Republicans club on campus carrying Trump signs and flags. (MICHAEL BRYANT / Staff Photographer)

Gov. Wolf addresses a Democratic voter registration event in the amphitheater at Lock Haven University. (MICHAEL BRYANT / Staff Photographer)

A campaign staffer at the Clinton County Democratic headquarters in Lock Haven, Pa. (MICHAEL BRYANT / Staff Photographer)

Terry White of Woodward, Pa., began placing messages supporting Donald Trump on his truck on the day the Republican announced his run for the presidency. He has been adding more phrases, using plastic adhesive letters so he can remove them after the election, as the campaign has grown. (MICHAEL BRYANT / Staff Photographer)

Payton Moore (left) and Ashley Martin campaign for Donald Trump during a break in classes at Lock Haven University. (MICHAEL BRYANT / Staff Photographer)

Previous

Next

Lock Haven - It's supposed to be a Democratic event, with possibly the state party's heaviest hitter, Gov. Wolf, due to at an outdoor rally for state Rep. Mike Hanna.

But politics has many stripes, even, or especially, on college campuses.

So as Wolf prepares to speak, Lock Haven University's student Republicans gather in the back, with blue Trump signs and a red-hatted cardboard cutout of their candidate.

And near the university dining hall, Matt Courter, 32, sits alone at a table sporting a sign promoting Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson.

"The public deserves to know that there's a third option available," Courter explains.

There don't seem to be many takers. Still, one young man tosses words of support as he passes.

"I wish he was doing better in the polls," he calls to Courter. "I really do."

$(document).ready(function(){new pym.Parent("myFrame1475872303","//media.philly.com/storage/inquirer/iframe/e1475872303.html",{})})

Return to top

Lancaster County

After a morning prayer breakfast in Lancaster, American Pastors Network President Sam Rohrer reflects on the role church leaders are playing in the election. (ED HILLE / Staff Photographer)

At a morning prayer breakfast in Lancaster, Lay Minister Bob Dunn (right) listens to Pastor Jonathan Shirk as he talks about being guided by scripture, even when it comes to politics and the upcoming election (ED HILLE / Staff Photographer)

"Josiah for President" T-shirts and memorabilia at the Bird-in-Hand Family Restaurant, from a play about a fictional Amish presidential candidate. "People want to see a candidate who does the right thing," says theater manager Steve Cargile. (ED HILLE / Staff Photographer)

Pastor John Mallonee of the Blessed Hope Bible Church in Liverpool, Pa., at a morning prayer breakfast in Lancaster. (ED HILLE / Staff Photographer)

"This show specifically really addresses a lacking morality in our government," says theater manager Steve Cargile of the show "Josiah for President." (ED HILLE / Staff Photographer)

Previous

Next

Bird-in-Hand - On a two-lane road that runs through Lancaster County, an election billboard proclaims, "Josiah for President."

Josiah Stoltzfus is not a little-known third-party candidate. He is a fictional character in a local theater production that runs twice a week at the Bird-in-Hand Family Restaurant. The play is based on the novel by Martha Bolton about a Plain man of faith who may unwittingly become president of the United States.

"This show specifically really addresses a lacking morality in our government," says Steve Cargile, the theater's manager, as the 1 p.m. matinee begins. "It takes an Amish fellow from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to show that the government is here to serve the people, and the best way to do that is to prioritize ethics, prioritize morality, and prioritize love."

Lancaster County is on the lower end of the central and northern Pennsylvania "T" - a GOP-leaning swath across the middle of the state.

In presidential elections, many counties along the T have reliably favored Republicans, even though a GOP nominee has has not won the state since 1988. Trump needs to keep it red, and has targeted the area for rallies and visits.

And allies abound. In a warehouse office not far from the theater, the director of an Amish PAC is putting the finishing touches on a fire-hall event to stir Plain people to the polls to defeat Clinton.

Cargile, the theater manager, doesn't share Trump's leanings. But the politically charged - and nonpartisan - play has been running twice a week for a year or more, and draws a healthy crowd for a weekday afternoon. It's promotional billboard is one of the few election-themed signs in an area dotted with sprawling farms and rolling hills.

"People want to see a candidate who does the right thing - not necessarily the smart thing - but the right thing," he says. "It's so refreshing, particularly in this political climate, to see someone speak out in favor of what they believe - not necessarily what their party believes in or what their supporters believe."

Return to top

Centre County

State College - Joanne Santamaria is among a group that call themselves "Hillraisers."

The 67-year-old school psychologist splits her time between Connecticut and Pennsylvania, but a few weeks ago changed her voter registration to the Keystone State.

"We're at a crossroads here," she says.

She sits at a table in a room a few blocks from the main campus of Pennsylvania State University. The room is adorned with Clinton campaign posters, and has a large cardboard cutout of the candidate wearing a Penn State cap.

Despite its name, Centre County isn't as staunchly Republican as the rest of the state's midsection. Four years ago, Barack Obama eked out a win here over Mitt Romney.

But locals such as Estelle Frankl aren't taking chances this time. At age 89, Frankl is at the phone bank. It's the first election for which she's ever volunteered.

"It's a little worrisome" she says. "More people than I expected are supporting Donald Trump."

Return to top

Northampton County

Trump supporters stage a flash mob on the Easton-Nazareth Highway. "I feel like the country is backwards," says 42-year-old Carroll Haas (red cap), a catering company worker from Nazareth. (Bradley C Bower / Staff Photographer)

A Trump supporter holds a sign at a flash-mob gathering on the Easton-Nazareth Highway. (Bradley C Bower / Staff Photographer)

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (left) and state Rep. Bob Freeman converse at a roundtable discussion in Easton, Pa. (Bradley C Bower / Staff Photographer)

Phone bank volunteers at the Clinton campaign office in Easton, Pa. (Bradley C Bower / Staff Photographer)

Clinton volunteer Shirley Trincheria makes calls to get out Democratic voters in Easton, Pa. (Bradley C Bower / Staff Photographer)

Previous

Next

Lower Nazareth Township - They appear on the grassy berm of a giant roadway like tiny creatures in blue jeans barely visible from the shopping center across the street. Campaign signs and American flags bob as the group scurries to a curb along Easton-Nazareth Highway.

This was a flash mob for Trump, a honk-and-holler troupe settling outside a Wegmans supermarket west of Easton just as rush hour kicks into high gear.

"I feel like the country is backwards," says 42-year-old Carroll Haas, a catering company worker from Nazareth. Her shirt reads: "Trump '16. Finally Someone With Balls."

Northampton County has long been considered a presidential bellwether, home to two cities once synonymous with Pennsylvania's manufacturing might: Bethlehem and Easton. Democrats might hold a 2-1 registration edge, but strategists view this as a swing county.

And yet, Trump and Clinton have not made a single campaign appearance all year here or in neighboring Lehigh County.

The flash mob forms in minutes. About a dozen people congregate, some holding flags with the U.S. stars and stripes and the words "Trump" and "Pence." One man totes a large cardboard sign: "Remember Benghazi."

The group earns deafening honks from 18-wheelers whizzing by. Organizer Thomas Carroll, a Bethlehem lawyer and Tea Party activist, can barely contain his enthusiasm.

"I have never seen this type of activity on the Republican side," Carroll said, pointing to his crew of foot soldiers. "Everywhere we go, people are begging us for signs."

Return to top

Lackawanna County

Bill Domenick, a Trump volunteer, affixes a sign to the side of "The Truth About Hillary Express," a tractor-trailer festooned with anti-Clinton and pro-Trump messages at Bolus Truck Parts and Towing in Throop, Pa. (Laura Legere / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Throop businessman Bob Bolus has turned several of his tractor-trailers into Trump billboards, including this one headed to a Mike Pence rally in Grantville, Dauphin County. (Laura Legere / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Barbara Scis of Old Forge, Pa., a volunteer at the Trump Scranton office, wove a handmade sign from cardboard to make it resemble a "basket of deplorables," a reference to Hillary Clinton's description of some of those backing the Republican candidate. (Laura Legere / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Previous

Next

Throop - The 18-wheeler has been turned into a rolling, raucous pro-Trump billboard - a red, white and blue tribute to the Republican ticket and framed with phrases such as "Build the wall" and "Keep Mexican dope in Mexico."

Bob Bolus, a 73-year-old Scranton businessman, has it parked, gassed and ready to go outside his parts and towing operation. He's giving instructions to the driver, embarking on a 115-mile trip to a Mike Pence rally in Grantville, Dauphin County.

"Use what I taught you to get it where it's supposed to be, all right?" Bolus coaches. "You get the damn trailer where Pence sees it."

Back in the garage in this working-class borough outside of Scranton, volunteers on a ladder affix a Trump-Pence sign to Bolus' newest canvas, a garish yellow trailer chronicling damaging episodes in Hillary Clinton's career. He calls the rig "The Truth About Hillary Express."

This slice of northeastern Pennsylvania has been a bit of an anomaly in 2016. Traditionally blue Lackawanna County has more than twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans. But many voters are older, white and don't have a college degree - the demographic political analysts say is likeliest to drop past party alliances and vote for Trump. The Republican candidate made Scranton one of his first stops in Pennsylvania, and he's coming back on Monday for a rally in Wilkes-Barre.

By then, Bolus will have his anti-Clinton trailer ready for its first voyage. He's dispatched similarly dressed rigs to events inside and outside of Pennsylvania. He hopes to organize a caravan to travel to Ohio and possibly to Florida before the election.

"The real way to put the message out," he says, "is what we're doing."

Scranton - Five hours.

That's about the tipping point each day for Gene and Susan Bierhorst. And they're almost there.

Evening is approaching as the Clinton campaign volunteers register voters outside a Dollar Tree store in Scranton's ethnically diverse but economically struggling South Side.

It's the fourth straight day the couple, both 73-year-old retirees, traveled an hour or so to Scranton from their country home on the New York side of the Delaware River. But with no real contest in New York, "Scranton's the gold mine for us," Gene Bierhorst says.

A passerby says he is registered, so they double-check: Did you vote four years ago? Have you moved since then?

"Get 10 friends," Gene Bierhorst exhorts. "You'll be voting with a whole army."

The pair have volunteered in Pennsylvania since the 2000 election showed them a relatively small number of voters could actually determine who becomes president.

A typical day has meant a dozen or so new registrations. Today, only 10. And it's time to go home.

But Gene takes the long view.

"If you do that for 10 days," he says, "you might get 200 voters that might not have existed otherwise."

[email protected]

215-854-4906

@JeffGammage

Justine McDaniel, Maria Panaritis, and Angela Couloumbis of the Inquirer and Chris Potter, Karen Langley, Peter Smith, and Laura Legere of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette contributed to this story.

BRADLEY C BOWER / For the Inquirer

var data=[{id:"allegheny",name:"Allegheny County",url:"//media.philly.com/images/pittsburgh.png",vote2012:{Obama:56.5,Romney:42},regVoters:{demdata:[508422,486861,517580,568560,557900,595222,556819,530933],repdata:[205486,198827,228385,260791,262692,256320,250279,253833],total:903656},population:{y1988:1346483,y2015:1230459,change:-.086168188},demographics:{white:.791415236,black:.131988957,hispanic:.020005543},income:{county:52390,state:53115},degree:{county:.369392317,state:.280989624}},{id:"butler",name:"Butler County",vote2012:{Obama:31.8,Romney:66.6},regVoters:{demdata:[30361,32610,36961,42516,42466,47133,43970,41670],repdata:[31439,33518,43067,51557,57737,60210,62863,68028],total:126936},population:{y1988:149090,y2015:186818,change:-.086168188},demographics:{white:.950946911,black:.0123168,hispanic:.013799527},income:{county:59365,state:53115},degree:{county:.316690698,state:.280989624}},{id:"centre",name:"Centre County",url:"//media.philly.com/images/statecollege.png",vote2012:{Obama:48.9,Romney:48.7},regVoters:{demdata:[21879,24479,28760,33215,32867,46351,46828,49124],repdata:[28104,29173,35026,4e4,38367,40801,42979,45695],total:117997},population:{y1988:120473,y2015:160580,change:.332912769},demographics:{white:.859783286,black:.036635945,hispanic:.029586499},income:{county:50295,state:53115},degree:{county:.404444495,state:.280989624}},{id:"chester",name:"Chester County",url:"//media.philly.com/images/chester.png",vote2012:{Obama:49.2,Romney:49.4},regVoters:{demdata:[46473,53950,65269,82428,98765,124640,128351,133864],repdata:[111892,120778,140617,163833,170419,150118,150692,153115],total:346899},population:{y1988:366435,y2015:515939,change:.407995961},demographics:{white:.801420323,black:.058929447,hispanic:.072562842},income:{county:86093,state:53115},degree:{county:.4875166,state:.280989624}},{id:"clinton",name:"Clinton County",url:"//media.philly.com/images/lockhaven.png",vote2012:{Obama:43.1,Romney:54.9},regVoters:{demdata:[7088,7342,7457,8911,9018,10836,10284,9014],repdata:[6756,7100,7819,9508,9328,9645,9806,9881],total:21714},population:{y1988:37205,y2015:39441,change:.060099449},demographics:{white:.951522527,black:.016632438,hispanic:.014578738},income:{county:44329,state:53115},degree:{county:.1719192,state:.280989624}},{id:"dauphin",name:"Dauphin County",url:"//media.philly.com/images/dauphin2.png",vote2012:{Obama:52.3,Romney:46.2},regVoters:{demdata:[38829,43754,50140,59138,67345,86853,81749,84864],repdata:[61346,66257,75174,83185,83699,81851,74144,75381],total:185282},population:{y1988:235159,y2015:272983,change:.160844365},demographics:{white:.674587795,black:.1719521,hispanic:.086093273},income:{county:54337,state:53115},degree:{county:.281771467,state:.280989624}},{id:"lackawanna",name:"Lackawanna County",url:"//media.philly.com/images/lackawanna.png",vote2012:{Obama:62.9,Romney:35.7},regVoters:{demdata:[82174,84720,85436,92065,96804,102308,96959,90307],repdata:[35800,36031,38463,42246,46882,42863,39358,41679],total:145975},population:{y1988:220579,y2015:211917,change:-.039269377},demographics:{white:.869632922,black:.026434878,hispanic:.066157977},income:{county:46056,state:53115},degree:{county:.256601024,state:.280989624}},{id:"lancaster",name:"Lancaster County",url:"//media.philly.com/images/birdinhand2.png",vote2012:{Obama:39.6,Romney:58.5},regVoters:{demdata:[41919,47206,56036,67932,82172,104120,100056,105609],repdata:[113843,121190,142170,166272,184852,176176,167063,170657],total:327659},population:{y1988:410152,y2015:536624,change:.308353976},demographics:{white:.826465085,black:.034540013,hispanic:.100955231},income:{county:57120,state:53115},degree:{county:.246836008,state:.280989624}},{id:"lehigh",name:"Lehigh County",vote2012:{Obama:53.2,Romney:45.4},regVoters:{demdata:[60704,65571,73186,84391,88149,112162,112948,112375],repdata:[56941,61117,70507,80324,79364,77730,76943,78932],total:229553},population:{y1988:287346,y2015:360685,change:.255228888},demographics:{white:.668802418,black:.055746704,hispanic:.224370295},income:{county:55681,state:53115},degree:{county:.280529095,state:.280989624}},{id:"northampton",name:"Northampton County",url:"//media.philly.com/images/northampton.png",vote2012:{Obama:51.6,Romney:46.9},regVoters:{demdata:[59312,64085,69820,78941,83694,103851,101458,97044],repdata:[37397,40994,51481,62906,67193,70301,70439,71703],total:229553},population:{y1988:264067,y2015:300813,change:.139154078},demographics:{white:.779241589,black:.051111488,hispanic:.12402722},income:{county:61041,state:53115},degree:{county:.271702461,state:.280989624}},{id:"washington",name:"Washington County",vote2012:{Obama:42.5,Romney:56},regVoters:{demdata:[67863,70466,77977,85898,88941,89034,77923,67209],repdata:[25818,26815,33962,40948,47351,49011,49252,53621],total:135692},population:{y1988:205161,y2015:208261,change:.015110084},demographics:{white:.925857458,black:.031503738,hispanic:.01578308},income:{county:55323,state:53115},degree:{county:.265792433,state:.280989624}}];function commify(a){a=a.toString();for(var e=/(-?d+)(d{3})/;e.test(a);)a=a.replace(e,"$1,$2");return a}Highcharts.theme={colors:["#3182bd","#de2d26"],title:{align:"left",style:{color:"#222",font:'bold 20px "Roboto", "Arial", sans-serif;'}},subtitle:{align:"left",style:{color:"#3F4752",font:'15px "Roboto", "Arial", sans-serif;',lineHeight:"18px"}},exporting:{enabled:!1},credits:{enabled:!0,href:"#",text:""},tooltip:{style:{font:'16pt "Roboto", "Arial", sans-serif',color:"#000000",fontSize:"15px"},backgroundColor:"#ffffff",borderColor:"#d9d9d9",formatter:function(){return this.series.name+": "+commify(this.y)+""}},xAxis:{title:{text:null},labels:{autoRotationLimit:0,style:{fontFamily:'"Roboto", "Arial", sans-serif'}},id:"x-axis",categories:["'88","'92","'96","'00","'04","'08","'12","'16"],tickColor:"transparent"},yAxis:{min:0,maxPadding:.01,title:{text:null},labels:{padding:1,style:{fontFamily:'"Roboto", "Arial", sans-serif'}}},legend:{padding:0,align:"left",layout:"horizontal",itemStyle:{font:'9pt "Roboto", "Arial", sans-serif',color:"#222"},itemHoverStyle:{color:"gray"},verticalAlign:"top"}},$(document).ready(function(){data.forEach(function(a){$(".sidebar-data").data("name"),$("#"+a.id).html(''+a.name+'Population: '+commify(a.population.y2015)+'White, '+(100*a.demographics.white).toFixed(1)+'%; Black, '+(100*a.demographics.black).toFixed(1)+'%; Hispanic, '+(100*a.demographics.hispanic).toFixed(1)+'%Median income: $'+commify(a.income.county)+'Vote for president in 2012: Obama, '+a.vote2012.Obama+'%; Romney, '+a.vote2012.Romney+'%Registered voters by party:'),Highcharts.setOptions(Highcharts.theme),null!=document.getElementById("chart"+a.id)&&$(function(){Highcharts.chart({chart:{renderTo:"chart"+a.id,marginTop:35,spacing:[4,4,4,4],type:"line",height:220},title:{text:""},plotOptions:{line:{animation:!1,lineWidth:4,marker:{radius:5,symbol:"circle"},dataLabels:{allowOverlap:!0,enabled:!0},enableMouseTracking:!0}},series:[{name:"Democrat",data:a.regVoters.demdata},{name:"Republican",data:a.regVoters.repdata}]})})})})

___

(c)2019 Philly.com

Visit Philly.com at www.philly.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.