Jana Benscoter

For the York Daily Record

Preparing for the upcoming April 26 Pennsylvania Primary, Democrats gathered Wednesday at The Red Brick Bakery and Tea Room in Red Lion to work on their ground game to support presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

Organizer George Sanders said he estimated 200 people would either sign up to make phone calls or use social media. Event volunteers reached out to registered voters from Wrightsville to Hanover, and Delta up to York city to let them know about the rally.

“I was excited to see (Bernie) come up as candidate and see him looking to campaign in a different way, sort of like Obama, getting everybody involved,” George Sanders said. “It’s kind of building from the bottom up, but I like (Bernie’s) positions even more.”

Why did York County voters switch parties?

As a small business owner, George Sanders said, he thinks his candidate is a better leader when it comes to both environmental issues and small business owners’ concerns. Based on his experience during previous election cycles in 2008 and 2012, he said he has noticed Bernie Sanders has activated new voters in the Red Lion area.

“He still has a chance,” George Sanders said. “He doesn’t need to win by a large margin, to get right over the edge. He has some big states at the end, even if he doesn’t do super well in New York or Wisconsin, and even here, if he’s even (with Hillary Clinton), if it stays close enough, it’s going to go to the end.”

Millersville University student Zach Ilgenfritz, 20, of Hellam Township, said Sanders’ ideas are what America needs. Ilgenfritz said he disagrees with Republican front-runner Donald Trump.

“In particular, Trump is obviously against Muslims and all that, and I think this is a country where it’s supposed to be freedom of religion,” Ilgenfritz said. “We’re supposed to be created equal, everyone, and I think discriminating people because of their religion or their race is opposite of what America was created for.”

How does the Pennsylvania primary work?

He continued, “I understand that socialism is a little far-fetched, too, but I think it’s a step in the right direction.”

Ilgenfritz and his friend Mark Swartz, also of Hellam Township, said this is their first time voting. Swartz, 20, said he thinks Sanders would make a good president.

“I am very into the whole climate change thing,” Swartz said. “When I look at him, I see someone who is in the race for the people. Where when I look at everybody else, like Trump, they look more…a lot of them make me feel like it’s about ego, especially Trump. Bernie understands what the people are going through.”

Elections 2016