There are now more “No Party Preference” voters than registered Republicans in the city of San Diego, according to the San Diego County Registrar of Voters’ October registration numbers.
The margin is fairly small—about 3,000 more NPPs than Republicans—but it still shows a shift in party numbers from just a month before. In September, there were about 3,600 more registered Republicans than NPPs.
Between September and October, the number of registered Democrats in San Diego increased by almost 7 percent, while the number of registered Republicans increased by just over 3.5 percent. The NPPs in San Diego had the largest jump: 7.5 percent.
There were also voter registration boosts across all of San Diego County: a 6.6 percent increase for Democrats, 3.5 percent for Republicans and 7 percent for No Party Preference.
Jess Durfee, chair of the San Diego County Democratic Party, said while he would like to take credit for the Democratic bump, he attributes it to the new law allowing online voter registration.
Leland Yee, a state Senator from San Francisco, sponsored a new law allowing online voter registration. His office said more than 1 million people have registered or re-registered to vote online this year.
California election officials expect voter registration for next week’s election to reach an all time high of more than 18 million voters.
