Voter party switching sows primary intrigue in Pennsylvania

(AP) — Voters are switching party affiliation in Pennsylvania at a rate not seen in years, if ever, as their chance to cast ballots in a competitive presidential primary election approaches.

In Pennsylvania, closed primaries are open only to the party's registered voters and, historically, races tend to be settled by the time the state's relatively late primary election date arrives.

[...] the numbers do not signal whether voters are switching to vote for or against a certain presidential candidate in an election-year campaign that has brought out strong reactions for and against Republican front-runner Donald Trump.

Valerie Bonacci, of Scranton, switched her registration from Democrat to Republican to support Kasich, whom she views as the most experienced GOP candidate for the job, although if Kasich and Clinton win their party nominations, she will be torn over whom to support.

Pennsylvania has supported the Democrat in every presidential election since 1988 and Democrats headed into the primary with a significant advantage, slightly above 4 million voters to nearly 3.1 million GOP voters.