Politics

GOP Registration Dips Below 30 Percent in Calif.

All hail the one-party system!

|

California has reached an all-time high of 18.2 million registered voters, while the number of registered Republicans has fallen below 30 percent, signaling a worrisome decline for the state's minority party, officials said Friday.

In its final update before Tuesday's general election, the secretary of state's office said the number of registered voters has increased by 950,000 since the 2008 presidential contest. Officials attribute that surge in part to the state's new online registration system, which helped many young, Democratic-leaning Californians sign up to vote this fall.

That system was seen as a threat to the California Republican Party, which has struggled to retain members, let alone add them. The secretary of state announced that Republicans now make up 29.3 percent of the state's electorate, compared with 31.4 percent in 2008.