SLO County sees record voter registration — and a big shift in party affiliation

A record 86% of eligible residents in San Luis Obispo County’s are registered to vote, according to the California Secretary of State’s Office, a dramatic increase from past presidential elections.

By contrast, just 71% of those eligible in SLO County were signed up in 2012 and 76% in 2016.

The trend is mirrored statewide, where secretary of state recently announced that as of Sept. 4 some 84.6% of eligible Californians are now registered to vote. Since the same time in 2016 — 60 days before the General Election — that’s almost 3 million more voters registered to vote statewide.

The percentage of those eligible to vote statewide is also the highest on record. In September 2016, it was just shy of 76%.

Meanwhile, that robust registration is translating to enthusiastic early voting with the secretary of state announcing Oct. 14 that more than 1.5 million vote-by-mail ballots have already been returned by California voters. This compares to approximately 150,000 ballots returned at this same point in the 2016 General Election.

Democrats outnumber Republicans in SLO County

As for party affiliation, this latest report has Democrats in SLO County numbering around 67,000 — or 37.5% of the electorate — while Republicans number 62,500 — or 35% of all voters.

That is a spread of 4,500 voters favoring Democrats this year, although one more 15-day report will be published soon.

The last presidential year vote in 2016 saw a September count of 55,500 Democrats vs. 61,000 Republicans in San Luis Obispo County — or a spread of around 5,500 in favor of Republicans.

That means in the past four years, there has been a 10,000-vote reversal, fueled by a wave of registrations on the Democratic side.

While both sides have increased their numbers from 2016, Democrats are up by 11,500 to Republicans’ gain of 1,500.

Back in 2012, another presidential vote year, Republicans enjoyed nearly a 10,000-vote advantage in the County. The numbers were about 59,500 GOP voters compared to 50,000 Democrats.

Adding it up, Democrats in the past 8 years have increased their numbers by around 17,000 voters while the Republicans added only 3,000.

The “blue wave” amounts to a dramatic shift in what has been historically a GOP bastion.

State figures show in the year 2000, the county had 51,472 Democrats and 62,000 Republicans, roughly the number of GOP voters signed up today.

Voters have until Oct. 19 to register and receive a vote-by-mail ballot. People can vote conditionally up through the end of Election Day on Nov. 3.

John Lindt is the editor of the news website Sierra2theSea.net.