Good year to vote early if you can

Contra Costa Times/Josh Richman, 10/23/12. "Political Blotter:  Politics in the Bay Area and beyond."

Waiting in line booby prize

California is on track for a record-high number of registered voters, Secretary of State Debra Bowen said today.

Yesterday was the deadline to register to vote in next month’s presidential election. Bowen said more than 679,000 Californians were added to the state’s voter rolls in the final 45 days leading up to that deadline, and that number will go up as county elections officials keep verifying the eligibility of tens of thousands more last-minute registrants.

The last certified statewide data, as of Sept. 7, showed 17,259,680 Californians registered to vote. The record high for California – set in February 2009 – was 17,334,275 registrants, so all those from the last few weeks are sure to put the state well past that mark. 

That's not nice

“I must emphasize these are preliminary numbers and not the final confirmed roster of eligible voters in California  because county elections officials are now hard at work verifying each and every application,” Bowen said in a news release. “After all 58 county elections officials send their registration data to my office, we will compile the certified statewide numbers and publish a final report of registered voters on November 2.” 

Of the more than 679,000 verified new voters so far, about 381,000 submitted their applications using the Secretary of State’s new online system and about 298,000 submitted paper applications."  

Posted by Kathy Meeh