Mike Sisk

One of the state's most closely watched regions Tuesday will be Beaver County, which features one competitive state Senate and three heated state House races.

And like practically every other area in the state, the county has seen a huge voter turnout thus far, Beaver County Democratic Party Chairman Mike Sisk told PolitickerPA.com.

A hundred people had lined up outside Sisk's voter precinct by 7 a.m., he said. He said he thinks turnout in his precinct will reach 80 percent.

The still relatively new county chairman thinks that will bode well for the four Democrats running in the county -- state Senate candidate Jason Petrella and state rep. candidates Dennis Rousseau, Vince Biancucci and Jaret Gibbons. 

"Voter registration is 3-to-1 in favor of Democrats," Sisk said. "So according to history, that should be good for us. But you never know, these are changing times."

Petrella's race against Republican Elder Vogel Jr. has been been one of the state's most closely watched campaign as each tries to replace retiring state Sen. Gerald Lavalle (D-Beaver County).

"I'm confident in Jason Petrella," Sisk said. "It'll be close, but I think Jason will win."

Beaver County Democratic Chairman Mike Sisk isn't ready to congratulate his party's state committee after it moved Saturday to change how it picks replacement candidates, nearly a month after its selection of Jason Petrella caused outrage among local Democrats.

"I don't know, we'll see," Sisk told PolitickerPA.com.

The Rules and Order of Business Committee, with the state Executive Committee, voted at the state committee's meeting to develop rules for selecting candidates if one picked by voters bows out of the campaign. The committee does not have any guidelines for picking replacement candidates when local county committees endorsement different people, a flaw exposed this August in the 47th Senatorial District when Sean Ramaley quit his campaign.

Jason Petrella's selection to ballot by the Pennsylvania Democratic Party in the 47th Senatorial District on Wednesday has infuriated local Democratic and union leaders, who said the state party unilaterally made a decision while ignoring their recommendation.

The anger runs deep enough that the decision might even endanger the union's endorsement of the Democratic candidate.

As Dennis Bloom, president of Beaver-Lawrence County Central Labor Council, put it, "We gave them our two selections and kind of got slapped."

The two preferred selections Bloom referred to are Bob Grotevant, former spokesman for Gov. Bob Casey (D) who emerged as a last-minute candidate this week, and Beaver County Commissioner Joe Spanik, originally considered the favorite to replace Ramaley.