Between October 13 and November 20, minor party registration has increased in Los Angeles County, but the number of registered voters in each of the two major parties has declined. There is no state tally for California as a whole, but Los Angeles County keeps a running tally on its web page, and since Los Angeles County includes 26% of the California registration, the Los Angeles County tally gives a clue to the state figures.
The November 20 totals from Los Angeles County are: Democratic 2,461,885; Republican 1,029,639; American Independent 109,192; Peace & Freedom 34,376; Libertarian 26,283; Green 24,596; Americans Elect 2,468; declines to state 849,576; blank and miscellaneous 312,950.
The October 13 totals are: Democratic 2,463,594; Republican 1,032,655; American Independent 109,018; Peace & Freedom 33,169; Libertarian 26,166; Green 24,587; Americans Elect 2,478; declines to state 853,384; blank and miscellaneous 306,594.
Americans Elect is the only ballot-qualified party, besides the two major parties, that lost registrations during the period October 13-November 20. It will be removed from the ballot in January 2014 if its registration does not increase to one-fifteenth of 1% of the state total, which probably means it needs 12,000 and it probably only has 5,000. Here is a link to the Los Angeles County web page with the registration data, which changes daily.
State law is clear that a voter who does not indicate a party preference has No Party Preference, not a miscellaneous party preference.
It is quite likely that those who write-in a preference of “Independent” are considered in Los Angeles County to have a preference for the Independent Party. If organizers of such a party were to submit an application to the Secretary of State, and she directed the County voter registrars to count Independent registrants who were members of the party, that the party would qualify.