If you are an active Democrat in Pinellas County, you probably know by now that the shit has hit the fan.
On Wednesday, several people apparently shared a screenshot of the Pinellas Supervisor of Elections' Web site, which indicates that, for the first time, the county's Republican population outnumbers Democrats some 225,976 to 225,957 (178,687 voters in Pinellas are non-party affiliated, Independent or third-party).
To Democrats, this is such bad news!
Just kidding.
They seem to think it has more to do with the disarray in the Republican Party right now over their candidates, namely the pro-Donald Trump vs. anti-Donald Trump factions. The circus likely attracted non-party affiliates, Democrats, Libertarians, you name it, who probably joined up ahead of Florida's presidential preference primary in order to vote either for or against Trump.
"The Republican Party registration has benefitted from the volatile nature of their primary," said Susan McGrath, head of the Pinellas County Democratic Executive Committee, in an email. "Voters have registered both in support of Trump and to vote against him."
She said she thinks Democrats who switched parties (presumably to vote for Trump, whom many Democrats say would lose in a November general election matchup against the Democratic nominee) will likely change their registrations back ahead of the next election.
"Between now and the general election, voters will be joining the Democrat Party and more importantly, voting for Democrats when they see the choices before them," McGrath said.
There's also the possibility that many Democrats in Pinellas County live in legislative districts that strongly favor Republicans, and they registered in their opposing party so they can vote in primaries when there's no Democrat in the race.
This article appears in Mar 17-23, 2016.