In Upper Pottsgrove Township—a First Class Township—the residents elect five individuals to represent them on the Township Board of Commissioners. The elections are held every two years, with the residents electing either two or three commissioners to serve on the five-member board. Last year, the residents elected three commissioners who will serve a four-year term; the other two commissioner seats are up in 2027.
As of November 2025, there are 4,436 registered voters in Upper Pottsgrove Township. Of the 4,436 residents who can vote, 2,067 residents did so in the 2025 local general election.
The breakdown of the 4,436 registered voters in the Township looks like this: Republicans 1,838, Democrats 1,765, with 883 registered as independents or as another party such as the Green Party or Libertarian. Prior to 2022, the spread between the two major parties was usually in the single digits; now it’s 73 in favor of the Republicans.
However, the 883 independents or other minor party voters can go many ways, making Upper Pottsgrove a competitive township. Consequently, this makes turnout a critical factor—in other words, even though one party might outnumber the other, it is who decides to vote, in any given election, that wins.
There are two ways residents can vote in Pennsylvania: by mail or at the polls. This is how the numbers broke down for Upper Pottsgrove in November of 2025:
Table 1
| Registered Voters | The Number Who Voted in Nov 2025 | Voted by Mail | Voted at the Polls | Provisional |
| 4,436 | 2,067 | 579 | 1,478 | 10 |
But, of the 2,067 folks that voted, who were they? Take a look:
Table 2
| Party or Affiliation | Number Who Voted in Nov 2025 | Registered to Vote as Stated Above | Turnout By Party or Affiliation |
| Republican | 861 | 1,838 | 47% |
| Democrat | 946 | 1,765 | 54% |
| Independent or Other | 260 | 883 | 29% |
| Totals | 2,067 | 4,436 | Overall Turnout 47% |
Below are the results for the November 2025 commissioner race in Upper Pottsgrove Township. There were six individuals running for three commissioner positions. Table 3 shows the voting method residents used, i.e., mail-in or at the polls, for each candidate and totals.
Take a look at the Votes by Mail column and the Votes at the Polls column. You can see, comparing the two columns, that there is a wide disparity between the votes the Democratic candidates received by mail (Votes by Mail column) and the votes the Republican candidates received by mail, whereas the votes at the polls (Voted at the Polls column) are much tighter.
Table 3
| Candidate | Votes by Mail | Votes at the Polls | Provisional Votes | Total Votes |
| Tyrome Robinson (D) | 392 | 674 | 5 | 1,071 |
| Elwood Taylor (D) | 389 | 600 | 3 | 992 |
| Al Leach (D) | 374 | 593 | 4 | 971 |
| Tom Zeigler (R) | 145 | 760 | 6 | 911 |
| Tina McIntyre (R) | 158 | 713 | 6 | 877 |
| Dave Morris (R) | 132 | 698 | 6 | 836 |
| Totals | 1,590 | 4,038 |
Table 4 focuses on the disparity between mail-in and at the polls votes a bit more.
Table 4
| Candidate | Votes by Mail | Total Votes by Mail | Percent of Mail in Votes | Votes at the Polls | Total Votes at the Polls | Percent of Votes at the Polls |
| Tyrome Robinson | 392 | 579 | 68% | 674 | 1,478 | 46% |
| Elwood Taylor | 389 | 579 | 67% | 600 | 1,478 | 41% |
| Al Leach | 374 | 579 | 65% | 593 | 1,478 | 40% |
| Tom Zeigler | 145 | 579 | 25% | 760 | 1,478 | 52% |
| Tina McIntyre | 158 | 579 | 27% | 713 | 1,478 | 48% |
| Dave Morris | 132 | 579 | 23% | 698 | 1,478 | 47% |
Referring to Table 1, you see that 579 individuals chose to vote by mail and 1,478 chose to vote in person. For the commissioner race, each voter was allowed to vote for no more than three candidates, so you could vote for three, two, one, or none.
Another way of viewing the votes cast for commissioner is by the percentage each major party received by type of vote, mail-in or at the poll (please note, these figures are the totals of all six candidates and keep in mind that many voters will not vote for all the commissioners they can vote for, say, for example, they only prefer one candidate).
Table 5
| Party | Votes by Mail | Percent of Mail in | Votes at the Polls | Percent of At the Polls |
| Totals | 1,590 | 4,038 | ||
| Total Republican Votes | 435 | 27% | 2,171 | 46% |
| Total Democrat Votes | 1,155 | 73% | 1,867 | 54% |
So, what to make of these numbers?
First, review the turnout in Table 2. Prior to 2023, Republicans voted in local elections—the odd-numbered years—close to 8% higher than the Democrats in Upper Pottsgrove. In 2023, the gap closed to even, and in 2025, the number flipped with the Democrats beating the Republicans by 7 percentage points.
Table 6 shows the turnout percentages for the last few years.
| Local Election Year Turnout | Republicans | Democrats |
| 2017 | 28% | 23% |
| 2019 | 38% | 30% |
| 2021 | 37% | 28% |
| 2023 | 36% | 36% |
| 2025 | 47% | 54% |
The numbers suggest two clear observations about the 2025 commissioner race. One, the Democratic Party did a much better job than the Republicans did in getting their voters to participate in the election, and two, they did a remarkably better job in utilizing mail-in ballots. What is interesting as well, from an overall view, these two patterns are generally the same as in neighboring townships.
So, the question is, why are the Democrats doing so much better than the Republicans in these two areas? One assumption would be that national issues and personalities motivated many Democrats to vote. By framing communications along these lines, Democratic organizations were able to motivate their voters to participate and drive up turnout.
As it pertains to Republican voters and national issues and personalities, and even though overall Republican turnout has increased in local elections, some Republican voters have the belief that, after participating and winning the presidential election, there is no need to vote until the next presidential election. This focus on national issues in a local election is unfortunate for both parties.
With 73% of the mail-in ballots going to Democratic candidates, it is clear that something other than chance is driving the difference between the two parties in the use of this voting method. It would be a bit of a stretch to think that this difference is the result of some nefarious action. It is most likely just better organization.
Voter Services puts out on a regular basis during the election season, all the voters who have requested a mail-in ballot, who have received their ballot, and who have mailed in their ballots. Encouraging Democratic voters to utilize mail-in ballots because of the ease of voting and given that the process is trackable, good organizational tactics can optimize this method of voting, which, it would seem, the Democratic party has done.
As mentioned above, the influence of national issues on local elections is concerning. During the Democratic primary for township commissioner last year, there was no competition for the three commissioner slots, so, after flipping parties, Elwood Taylor and Albert Leach, seeking the Democratic nominations, qualified to run in the general election against the Republican candidates.
Clearly enough, if there had been two additional candidates in the Democratic primary with a local focus and, given Taylor and Leach’s political record and party flipping, both would have certainly lost in the primary (see earlier article https://upperpottsgrovejournal.com/taylor-overdevelops-taylor-runs-again-taylor-sues/ ). Needless to say, if they went to the Republican side and competed for that party’s nomination, they would have met with the same results and lost.
Even with these two observations relating to the voting numbers favoring Democratic candidates, the campaign to defeat both Taylor and Leach in the General Election was possible, but failed, because of the ineffective campaign conducted by township Republican committee members Cathy Paretti and Dave Waldt. Paretti, who was the chair of the Upper Pottsgrove Republican Committee, with two outstanding Republican candidates, Dave Morris and Tom Zeigler, running, managed to lose the election through a lack of organizational and tactical skills. Paretti resigned soon after the defeat as a Republican committee member.
Several Republicans warned Dave Waldt, who is the Republican Area 2 leader (Area 2 includes Pottstown, New Hanover, and the three Pottsgroves, Upper, Lower, and West), as well as a township committee member, and the county Republican leadership (at that time, the chair has since changed), that the campaign against Taylor and Leach was going to fail. They did not respond.
To rescue the campaign because Paretti and Waldt failed to develop a sound strategy, a grassroots group, consisting of Democrats and Republicans, emerged in the last weeks before the election to campaign against Taylor and Leach (see article on this group https://upperpottsgrovejournal.com/a-grassroots-movement-against-township-commissioner-candidates-taylor-and-leach-emerges/ ).
Review the results in Table 3, votes at the polls, and see the differences between Robinson’s votes and Taylor’s and Leach’s. This difference shows that, even though this small, determined group couldn’t influence the mail-in vote because of when they started, they were able to communicate their position to many residents who went to the polls to vote. It is safe to say that if this group had more time, they would have beaten Taylor and Leach.
The bipartisan effort of this group is commendable.