On March 22, the California Secretary of State released a registration tally as of February 10, 2017. This is the only report that California will issue until early in 2018. In raw numbers, the two major parties lost members, but all the ballot-qualified minor parties gained members.
In percentage terms, the Democratic, Republican and Green Parties were slightly lower, but the Libertarian, Peace & Freedom, and American Independent Parties gained. The old percentages, from the October 24, 2016 tally, were: Democratic 44.92%; Republican 26.01%; American Independent 2.61%; Libertarian .72%; Green .4876%; Peace & Freedom .3897%; independent and unqualified parties 24.86%.
The new percentages are: Democratic 44.77%; Republican 25.87%; American Independent 2.63%; Libertarian .73%; Green .4874%; Peace & Freedom .3912%; independent and unqualified parties 25.13%. If these trends continue, in the next report there will be more people registered as independent or in unqualified parties than there will be Republicans.
So there is no new data for unqualified parties (Constitution Party, National Party, American Solidarity Party, etc?)
old Green .4876%
new Green .4874%;
I don’t think that’s a gain.
We’re in agreement and we’re both right. The post says the Greens declined percentagewise but went up with absolute numbers. The number of registered voters now is higher than it was in October 2016.
@GreensGenes Yea that lose several members but oddly enough Peace and Freedom party gains fifty more members (.3897%) despite they didnt win elections in years.
@Jake because they merged with Independent or they are unqualified for reason sadly. And also they sould add Califorina National Party with them.
@Jake,
California National Party up to 578
Constitution 326
The 578 for the CNP appears to be the largest in last 26 years for a party that has never qualified.
It is inaccurate to combine independent (No Party Preference) voters with those registered with non-qualified parties. There is a clear distinction under California statutes.
Jim Riley : “It is inaccurate to combine independent (No Party Preference) voters with those registered with non-qualified parties. There is a clear distinction under California statutes.”
Really Jim ? What happens to their registration status if the Prospective Party into which they registered fails to qualify before Primary Voting Day ? Doing the Poll Workers say “Sorry you are not registered” or do they receive an Independent Ballot ?
@Bob M,
In non-presidential election years, there is only one ballot which all voters receive.
The only time that there are specific-party ballots is for the presidential primary and when party officials are being elected. Parties that are qualified for a presidential primary may permit voters who are not-affiliated with the party to vote in vote in their primary. They could also permit those voters to vote in the elections for party committee members, though no party has ever done so.
If California went back to their system of a separate presidential primary (i.e. statewide primary in August, presidential primary in May or earlier), then all voters would receive the same primary ballot in August.