GOP reclaims second-party status
Overall voter registration up
The Republican Party has taken back its status as a second party in Humboldt County from “no party preference” voters.
The Democratic Party still claims the largest number of registered voters in the county at 38,532, or 46.87%, as of Sept. 4, according to data from the Secretary of State. However, Republicans went from being an effective third party with 18,068, 23.25% of registered voters to 18,742, or 23.66%, between January and February while the percentage of voters registered without a party affiliation went from 18,719, or 24.09%, in January to 18,084, or 22.83%, in February.
As of Sept. 4, those numbers shifted to 19,651, 23.9%, for Republicans
and 17,808, or 21.66%, for unaffiliated registered voters, according to the data.
The chair of the Republican Party of Humboldt County did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Democrats and Republicans are more evenly split across county supervisorial Districts 1 (6,579 to 5,143) and 2 (5,676 to 4,642). No party preference voters come in third in both districts at 3,428 and 3,591, respectively.
In the other three districts, no party preference voters maintain their second-party status.
Democrats have more than double the number of registered voters than Republicans in District 4, 6,736 to 3,000, and District 5, 7,773 to 3,561, as of Sept. 4, according to the data. Independents have 3,356 and 3,701, respectively.
There are more than three times the number of Democrats as Republicans in District 3, 9,477 to 2,396. Independents have 4,008 registered voters.
Overall voter registration also increased over the course of the year, starting with 77,715 registered voters Jan. 3 to 82,213 by Sept. 4.
In that time, voters registering as Democrats outpaced those registering as no party preference or Republicans, jumping from 34,500 in January to 38,532 by September, a gain of just under 4,000. Republicans added just over 1,500 to their numbers while those registered with no party preference lost just over 900 voters.
Ciara Emery, president of the Humboldt Young Democrats, said those numbers reflected what her organization and the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee were seeing on the ground, with large numbers of people donating and requesting yard signs.
“What I’m really encouraged about is that we’re seeing people pretty young getting engaged,” Emery said. “Two of our members are high school students who can’t even vote yet and they feel so strongly about the election that they’re working on campaigns.”
Last day to register and receive your ballot in the mail
According to a Humboldt County Elections Office release: Monday, Oct. 19 is the last day to register to vote in the Nov. 3 Election and receive your ballot in the mail.
Register to vote online at RegistertoVote.ca.gov. Register to vote using the registration form that you can find at post offices or at the Office of Elections. If you plan to mail it, make sure that it is postmarked no later than Oct. 19.
After Oct. 19, you will still be able to register at the Humboldt County Office of Elections and receive your ballot there.
Starting Oct. 31, you will also be able to go to your Voter Assistance Center and register and vote with a Conditional Ballot.
The Humboldt County Office of Elections is at 2426 6th St., Eureka. The office can be reached by phone at 707-445-7481 or by email at Humboldt_elections@ co.humboldt.ca.us. Visit Humboldtgov.org/elections for more information.