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A record 18 million voters registered ahead of California primary
File: Voters go to the polls for Super Tuesday primaries in the predominantly Latino neighborhood of Boyle Heights on Feb. 5, 2008.
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David McNew/Getty Images
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A comparison of the Los Angeles County voter registration by party in the 45 days leading up to the primary deadline.
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California Secretary of State's Office
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A comparison of the Los Angeles County voter registration by party between the 2012 primary and the 2016 primary.
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California Secretary of State's Office
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Just under 18 million Californians are registered to vote ahead of the June 7 presidential primary, the Secretary of State's Office announced Friday, setting a record. The deadline to register was May 23.
According to the final voter registration report released Friday, 17,915,053 people are registered to vote in the primary, which the office notes in a release is the highest ever total statewide voter registration heading into a primary. That's 72.29 percent of the Californian citizens eligible to vote.
"In the 45 days leading up to the voter registration deadline, there was a huge surge in voter registration," Secretary of State Alex Padilla said in a statement.
The office released a table showing the shifts in voter registration over those 45 days in Los Angeles County:
A comparison of the Los Angeles County voter registration by party in the 45 days leading up to the primary deadline.
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California Secretary of State's Office
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Over that time, there was a net increase in registration statewide of 646,220 voters. Padilla attributed part of the surge to social media, particularly Facebook reminding all Californians to register to vote. The Democratic and Republican parties saw increases, as did those with no party preference listed.
"Now the next step is to turn out and vote!" Padilla said in the statement.
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Much of the net increase was for the Democratic Party, with a net of 491,818 voters. Meanwhile, other parties — including the American Independent Party, Green Party, Libertarian Party and Peace and Freedom Party — all saw net decreases.
Los Angeles County saw the greatest increase in registration since the 2012 presidential primary due to population size, but didn't crack the top five when it came to percentage increase — that honor goes to Del Norte County. Check out L.A. County's voter registration changes over those four years here:
A comparison of the Los Angeles County voter registration by party between the 2012 primary and the 2016 primary.
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California Secretary of State's Office
)
Read highlights from the full report below, or click here for the complete report.
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