Record number of voters registered in California

Report shows unusual post-election surge to bring state’s total on rolls to 19.43 million.

SACRAMENTO — After the hotly contested 2016 presidential election, California has set a new voter registration record, with 19.43 million residents now signed up to vote.

More than 20,000 voters were added to the rolls from Oct. 24 to Feb. 10, an unusual increase after a presidential election, according to Secretary of State Alex Padilla, who released the new voter registration numbers Wednesday.

The state saw a net gain of more than 1.7 million voters since the same report was released with February 2015 statistics, and a record 14.6 million California voters cast ballots in the November elections.

Party registration trends are holding steady, according to the new numbers.

Republicans trailed Democrats in registration by more than 18 percentage points as of Feb. 10, according to the California Secretary of State’s report. Of Californians registered to vote, Democrats accounted for 44.8% and Republicans 25.9%.

Unaffiliated voters, known in California as those who have “no party preference,” were a close third and made up more than 24.5% of statewide registration.

Over the last decade, Democratic voter registration has remained relatively the same percentagewise, increasing by just over 2 percentage points since February 2007.

Republican voter registration has continued to slide, dropping by more than 8 percentage points during that time.

As of Feb. 10, an estimated 77.9% of Californians who were eligible to vote had registered, according to the report.