A Jump In No Party Preference

Sacramento, CA — Statewide voter registration shows more Californians aren’t going to cast their ballots along party lines. The secretary of state’s office reports 3,672,229 have chosen no party preferences. They say that’s a new all-time high. The previous record set in June shows a raw-number high of unaffiliated voters was 3,654,608.

The secretary of state’s office reports more than 17 million Californians are registered to vote ahead of the November presidential election. That represents 72.6 percent of eligible voters, up from 69.8 percent this time four years ago.

California’s chief elections officer, Secretary Debra Bowen says “As Californians hear more about the important issues on the November ballot and as we approach the October 22 deadline to register, those numbers will continue to go up,” Bowen adds, “Filling out a voter registration application online or on paper takes just a few minutes, and I expect to see tens of thousands of new California voters this presidential election season.”

Republican registration continues to decline and is just barely over 30 percent. About 7.5 million voters are registered Democrats, or 43.3 percent, compared with nearly 44 percent in the November 2008 presidential election.

The registration totals for the seven qualified political parties and voters who have no party preference is below.

 September 5, 2008 September 7, 2012

Political Party # Registered % of Total  # Registered % of Total
American Independent  333,609 2.06 %  434,438 2.52 %
Americans Elect  N/A N/A 2,998 0.02 %
Democratic  7,101,442 43.91 %  7,478,915 43.33 %
Green  116,334 0.72 % 109,488 0.63 %
Libertarian  78,935 0.49 %  94,620 0.55 %
Peace and Freedom  54,989 0.34 %  59,232 0.34 %
Republican  5,227,489 32.32 %  5,197,177 30.11 %
No Party Preference  3,151,369 19.49 %  3,672,229 21.28 %
Miscellaneous 107,605 0.67 %  210,583 1.22 %
TOTAL  16,171,772 100 %  17,259,680 100 %

Click here for the complete report.

Click here to fill out a voter registration application online.

Click here to check your voter registration status.

Californians can also pick up a paper voter registration application in many places throughout California including U.S. post offices, public libraries, Department of Motor Vehicles offices, and county elections offices.

The deadline to register to vote in the November 6 general election is October 22. The last day to request a vote-by-mail ballot is October 30.