Every four years, the California Secretary of State’s Office publishes voter registration statistics for every county in California.
Statistics for the upcoming November election were published in July.
This year, comparing the number of registered Democrats versus Republicans over the past four years in San Luis Obispo County shows growth among the Democrats, but almost no growth for the GOP.
In July 2020, SLO County registration numbers showed 66,247 Democrats versus 61,883 Republicans. That breaks down to 37.3% Democrats and 34.8% Republicans.
Fast forward to July of this year, and Democrats now number 68,434 versus 62,198 Republicans, a difference of 38.4% to 34.9%.
That latest numbers show that the Democrats have gained 2,187 voters in the past four years while Republicans have gained just 315.
The numbers continue a trend that has been in effect in recent years, with the advantage effectively flipping in 16 years.
The GOP had a 7,000-voter lead in 2008, and the two parties were about even in 2018. But a blue wave has been the rule since.
Now, the Democrats have a 6,236 advantage in SLO County, up from 4,364 in 2020.
Meanwhile, the category of No Party Preference has shurnk a bit. It numbered 37,633 or 21.2% in 2020. But in 2024, it’s now 32,310, or 18.1%, a decline of more than 5,000.
California voter registration
Statewide, the trends are similar to San Luis Obispo County.
The total voter registration in California increased from 20.92 million to 22.17 million over the four-year period since 2020.
Meanwhile, the percentage of eligible Californians who are registered to vote decreased from 83.49% to 82.43%.
The percentage of voters who registered as No Party Preference decreased from 24.04% to 21.88%.
The percentage of voters registered with a qualified political party increased from 74.86% to 76.93%.
The percentage of voters registered with the Democratic Party decreased from 46.32% to 46.19%, while the percentage of voters registered with the Republican Party increased from 23.99% to 24.7.
The numbers show Dems have gained more than 2 million voters statewide since 2016 while the GOP gained around 600,000 as did No Party Preference.
John Lindt is the editor of the news site Sierra2theSea.net.
