California voter registration for midterm polls hit record high

Voter registration for the November 6 midterm elections has reached an all-time high in California, Secretary of State Alex Padilla's office announced.

A total of 19,696,371 Californians were registered to vote, an increase of 1,892,548 since the last gubernatorial election in 2014, Xinhua news agency quoted the office as saying in a statement on Saturday.

It means 78.16 per cent of eligible Californians were registered to vote, the highest in a gubernatorial election since 1950, the report said.

"It is nearly unprecedented for California to set a voter registration record in a midterm election," Padilla said.

"It has been nearly 70 years since we've seen a higher percentage of eligible citizens registered to vote for a midterm election."

The Democratic Party continues to hold the most registered voters with 8,557,427 voters, an increase of 848,744 voters since 2014.

The number of The Republican Party voters, however, decreased by 270,368 since 2014, reaching 4,735,054.

The number of final registration voters could increase due to the Golden State's conditional voter registration policy, which allows residents who are not able to make it to a polling place or vote by mail to cast a ballot provisionally.

Until the election day, residents can go to their county election office or designated location to complete the conditional voter registration card and a ballot, Padilla said in the statement, adding that county officials will process the conditional registration and ballot, and count the votes once verified.

"Registering to vote is just the first step in doing your civic duty -- if you're one of the over 19.6 million registered voters in California, make sure you cast your ballot by Election Day," said Padilla.

--IANS

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