California Achieves New Voter Registration Record

Media Contact:

November 2, 2012

Phillip Ung (916) 520-4070

California Achieves New Voter Registration Record

Achievement made possible by California Common Cause sponsored Online Voter Registration

Sacramento, CA – Today, Secretary of State Debra Bowen released her office’s final pre-election voter registration data that shows 18,245,970 Californians have registered to vote, setting a new record for the Golden State.

“This is a proud moment for California. Access to voter registration has gone through the roof now that we have Online Voter Registration,” said Kathay Feng, executive director of California Common Cause, the organization that sponsored the legislation creating the state’s online system.

According to county data tallied by Political Data Inc (PDI), the state’s largest bipartisan election data firm, 61.5 percent of those who used the online registration system were under age 35 (30.8 percent age 18-24, 30.7 percent age 25-34) and 79 percent registered to vote for the first time.

“Online Voter Registration has revolutionized how voters become engaged in our elections. We expect voter registration to break more records when OVR is complemented by Election Day Voter Registration when fully implemented in future elections,” said Phillip Ung, policy advocate for California Common Cause, the lead organizational advocates for AB 1436 (Feuer).

“This election’s registration record could not have been possible without efforts of grassroots volunteers from across the state that knocked on doors, attended community events, and canvassed universities and colleges with smartphones and tablets to connect new voters to this new online system,” stated Anjuli Kronheim, Los Angeles organizer for California Common Cause.

Please contact Phillip Ung at (916) 520-4070 or pung@commoncause.org if you have any inquiries or need analysis.