The CA Gubernatorial Runoff’s Low Impact on Youth Preregistration Rates
The California Secretary of State has recently released data on youth voter preregistration as of August 2021. Statewide preregistration increased in the lead up to the gubernatorial runoff election. Overall, however, none of the state’s most populous counties have reached a 20% preregistration rate.
Among the most populous counties, San Mateo County had the highest preregistration rate, with 18.65% of 16- and 17-year-olds preregistered to vote. Following San Mateo are Santa Clara, Contra Costa, Alameda, and San Francisco counties in descending order, all of whom exceeded a 15% preregistration rate. Within the largest counties, Northern California has the highest rates of preregistration. San Francisco’s preregistration rate has increased by 2.67 percentage points since February 2021, the greatest percentage point increase of any county.
Ventura and Orange County both had around a 14% preregistration rate, a slight increase from their July 2021 rate. Los Angeles County’s preregistration rate trails at 11.47%. However, both Los Angeles County and Orange County have seen 20% increases in the number of youth preregistered, compared with February 2021. This positive upward trend correlates in time with The Civics Center’s efforts to raise awareness of preregistration in these counties and to work with students and educators to encourage high school voter registration. Tulare County had the overall lowest preregistration rate in August with only 9% of its youth preregistered to vote.
The state of California had an overall preregistration rate of 12.94%. Since February 2021, the change in preregistration number was 19,084. With thousands of young people becoming eligible to register in California every year, it is crucial to continue the upward movement of preregistration rates, especially with the upcoming midterm elections in the fall of 2022.
Preregistration data for California’s most populous counties, listed alphabetically and descending by preregistration rate (August 2021)
Sources: Cal. SoS Report of Preregistration; US Census ACS 5-year survey
Sources: Cal. SoS Report of Preregistration; US Census ACS 5-year survey