On August 12, the California Secretary of State released new registration data, the first new data since February 2021. Here is a link.
Percentages are: Democratic 46.49%; Republican 24.05%; American Independent 3.22%; Libertarian .96%; Peace & Freedom .50%; Green .40%; independent and miscellaneous 24.39%.
Percentages in February 2021 were: 46.17%; Republican 24.14%; American Independent 3.07%; Libertarian .92%; Peace & Freedom .48%; Green .39%; independent and miscellaneous 24.84%.
Among the unqualified parties, the Common Sense Party has 11,965, up from 8,222 in February. The Peoples Party has 567, up from 332 in February.
When will the last Elephant die or flee the CA Soviet Socialist Republic ??? —
esp when commies start eating eat other ???
American Independent Party at 3.22% is interesting to me considering that the latest count for the Independent Party of West Virginia is 35,628 which is 3.17% and we’re not even recognized yet.
The CA LP is still on pace to have more registered voters than the Green party does nationally between 2022 and 2024. Which might be impressive, except that the CA American Independent party is going to have more registered voters than the Libertarian party does nationally within a couple of months, if it isn’t already there. Weird how the CA AIP Presidential candidate only got 9% as many votes as there are registered voters in the state, though.
People’s Party growth is rather lackluster, given the opportunity they have.
Most of the people in California who are registered to vote under the American Independent Party banner have no idea it is a political party, and they think they are registering ss independents, and the American Independent Party in California has turned into a do nothing joke of an organization which has done nothing of any significance in 11 years.
The Libertarian Party of California now has over 212,000 registered voters, yet last I checked, which was about 8 months ago, they only have around 1,885 dues paying members. They should start contacting all of the registered Libertarians in California who are not dues paying members to try to recruit them into becoming dues paying members.
Most people registering with any party in any state named independent party think they are registered non partisan. People just don’t read the forms all that carefully or know details like difference between third party and no party.
@Jim,
No, it is not weird that the CA AIP Presidential candidate only got 9% as many votes as there are registered AIP voters in the state. As Val and Andy commented, most people choosing AIP when they register to vote think they are registering as independent of any party. (As someone who lived in California for decades I can attest to that from talking to many people over the years who did register as AIP.) Most of those voters do not identify with or are looking to support the AIP and its candidates. So, in some ways their numbers are not that impressive.
I don’t agree that people who register “American Independent” in California think they are becoming independent voters. The registration form is very clear. First it asks applicants if they wish to register into a party…”yes” or “no.” If “no”, they are told to skip the next question. The next question asks people to choose a party, and lists the six qualified parties. I think many people like the idea of a party that represents independent voters, so they are happy to join the AIP, because they think the AIP is a party for independent voters.
@Richard
The reporting seems to indicate otherwise, showing that many still join the AIP by mistake:
“Thousands of independent Californians accidentally registered to a right-wing political party” https://qz.com/664351/thousands-of-independent-californians-accidentally-registered-to-a-right-wing-political-party/
“California Voters Keep Accidentally Joining George Wallace’s Zombie Political Party” https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/03/ca-indie-voters-keep-joining-george-wallaces-zombie-party.html
“Many American Independent Party Voters In California Are Mis-Registered” https://www.npr.org/2016/04/18/474725586/many-american-independent-party-voters-in-california-are-mis-registered
Since my original comment was not approved by moderators I’ll take the actual urls
@Richard
The reporting seems to indicate otherwise, showing that many still join the AIP by mistake:
“Thousands of independent Californians accidentally registered to a right-wing political party” from qz . com
“California Voters Keep Accidentally Joining George Wallace’s Zombie Political Party” from nymag . com
“Many American Independent Party Voters In California Are Mis-Registered” from npr . com
Andy – I agree. Every state with voter registration ought to be doing that. If they don’t have the cash on hand to mail a letter to all of the registered voters in the state at once, they can do it county by county, spread out over a number of years. People registered to vote with the party are the low-hanging fruit of potential donors. They could be asked to be a candidate or activist at the same time. Ask them if they want a bumper sticker, or something, too.
A few months ago I noticed that Signature Membership per capita was actually slightly higher in states without voter registration that it is in states that have voter registration. That should not be the case. **Signature Membership only happens after contact with the party.** I suspect, right now, almost every state party passively waits for interested people to reach out to them (usually by visiting the web site), rather than the party reaching out to clearly interested people.
A lower Signature Membership rate in states with voter registration is an indicator that those states are not making easy contact with people who have already indicated they agree with the party.
That first contact is important because Signature Members are much, much more likely to become donors.
There are 715,000 registered Libertarians nationwide and at least 630,000 of them are not Signature Members. If we get just 10% of them to become donors – and we know for a fact that those people are already interested in the party – then the LNC will have quadrupled its current dues paying membership.
Richard, I have personally registered THOUSANDS of people to vote in California. I NEVER had one person registered as American Independent Party who knew what it was. I know this because I asked them. They all thought it meant registering as an independent. After I told them it was an actual political party, some wanted another form so they could start over,” but others said something like, “I’m in a hurry, so the heck with it,” and they left it like that just because they did not care enough to take the time to fill out another form.
The Los Angeles Times did a story on this a few years ago, and they contacted a bunch of people who were registered as American Independent, and they found that most of them had no idea what it was.
You are overestimating a lot of people’s ability to read and comprehend and pay attention to what a form says.
@BL,
How likely is an article entitled “California Voters Keep Accidentally Joining George Wallace’s Zombie Political Party” appearing in New York magazine likely to be objective.
Larry Elder should be governor, but the election is being stolen.