Now that June’s election has come and gone, one key point from the primary that is bound to get plenty of attention was the anemic voter turnout. By some early estimates the overall rate was pegged at 24%, which could be an all-time low. In some counties, the turnout rate was far lower. So if you did vote on the 5th, you were one of the few in the state who cast a ballot, as turnout fell short of the 30% rate that was predicted for the primary. So how does the turnout rate for this June’s election compare to the state’s highest rate for a primary election? In 1976, over 76% of voters cast their ballots in a presidential primary.

Prior to this month’s election, the Secretary of State released some interesting voter stats, which give us a better idea of just how many Californians are registered to vote. Overall the state has
17,153,699 registered voters. Some of the key stats include the fact that the percentage of voters registered with a qualified political party decreased from 79.9 percent to 77.7 percent. The percentage of voters with no political party preference (known before 2011 as decline-to-state voters) continues to tick up, increasing from 19.4 percent four years ago to 21.3 percent now.

There were 7.7 million Vote-by-mail ballots issued for this June’s election and there are 7 qualified political parties in the state of California. Another neat factoid is that there have been 116 statewide initiatives approved by voters in the 100 years since direct democracy was established in California.

You can read the Secretary of State’s full report on registration stats here.