(From the latimes.om) The number of Californians who can now vote has surged to record levels — passing 18 million for the first time — a leap that could affect the outcome of contests across the ballot next week. More than 1.4 million new voters have signed up, nearly 50% of them online under a new law that kicked in six weeks ago allowing electronic registration. They tend to be younger and more left-leaning than the state’s general voting population, according to Political Data Inc., a bipartisan firm that analyzed county reports.
That gives Democrats, who already dominate state politics, a big boost; they outnumber Republicans among the new voters by more than 2 to 1. The highest number of registered voters until now was 17.3 million, in February 2009.
The newly enfranchised could loom large in Gov. Jerry Brown’s push for tax increases, which is teetering in the polls. Brown has been pitching Proposition 30 to college students lately in a blitz of campaign appearances and social media outreach efforts expected to last until election day.
Independent voters, whose numbers also have risen, are considered key to Brown’s effort. A third of those who recently registered did so without a party preference or with a minor party.
Read more here: Number of California voters reaches record levels