New Voter Registration Numbers: "Obama Surge" Continues

The final voter registration report before tomorrow’s election shows the surge in California Democratic voter registrations is continuing. After signing up over 465,000 new registrants between January first and September 5th, the Democratic Party then signed up another 582,000 between September 5th and the October 20th registration deadline. The Republican Party showed some signs of life too: after increasing only 29,500 between January 1 and September 5, Republicans signed up 200,500 new registrants between September 5 and October 20th. But new Republicans were outnumbered by the 293,000 new “Decline to State” registrants.

Overall, Democratic voters increased from 42.7 percent of the state’s voters in January, to 43.7 percent for the June primary, to 44.4 percent now. Decline to State voters were at 19.4 percent in January and June, but jumped to 19.9 percent today. Republicans continued to decline, from 33.5 percent in January to 32.5 percent in June and 31.4 percent today.

This registration surge means election-day challenges for County Registrars. Its longer-term impact will depend on whether these new voters actually turn out to vote, and whether they stay engaged in elections in the future.

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