Voter registration up in Monterey County

California’s primary isstill two months away,but it could make a difference in the presidential election. It hasn’t made a difference in previous years because the state’s primaries are held so late in the cycle.

They believe it’s because online registration is now a factor, but political scientists say presidential election years also draw larger voter turnouts. Because there’s no presumptive nominee in either party at this point, the spotlight will be on our state and our 720 Democratic and Republicandelegates up for grabs.

“I’m really excited this year that the California primary will make some difference,” political scientist David Anderson said. “It will have some impact. California had not had that opportunity for a number of years, so we’ll see candidates coming, we’ll see campaigns, and we’ll see television ads. We’re going to see campaign activity that we haven’t seen in California for some time.”

The Monterey County Elections Office says there are 170,000 registered voters in the county. That’s up from156,000 just four years ago. Of the numbers, 49 percent of registered voters in Monterey County are Democrat,23 percent areRepublican,and 22 percent are registered as “no party preference.”

No party preference does not meanIndependent.

“American Independent is an actual party,” said Gina Martinez,assistant registrarof Voters. “Nopartyreference means they have decided not to mark down a party on their registration card, they are not affiliated with a political party and that will impact them in the primary election. What type of ballot they will receive.”

Those voters will be given the option of aDemocrat, AmericanIndependentor aLibertarianballot. However, voters who don’t have a party preference cannot vote in theRepublicanorGreenprimaries. They would have to register with those parties. It’s not the elections office making the rules; State law says each party must decide. The Monterey County Republican Party is reaching out to no party preference voters now.

“We’re doing our best to get the word out,” said Paul Bruno. We don’t want people to get to the election and become frustrated and they won’t have an opportunity to vote, so, we want to make sure the word is out and we’re finding a lot of people are registering because of that.”

LocalDemocratssay this primary is an exciting time for everyone.

“Primary season forDemocratsis a conversation,” Shawn Bagley said.“Yeah, we have two great presidential candidates battling it out. How exciting is that? You can tell by the national level throughout the states as we slowly wind down to California and June 7 , and of course that will be the decision time. Who will secure the nomination?”

California voters will also notice a change in how they vote because of the newly institutedTopTwo Candidates Open Primary Act. With the exception of the presidential election, the top two winning candidates in every race will move on to the general election in November.

“So the Senate seat or Congress, those kind of elections, people can register and see what kind of response they get,” Anderson said. “Whether they can make it in the final two for November or not.”

Meaning we could see twoDemocratsor twoRepublicansrunning against each other for some big seats. Some of the big races include the state assembly’s 30th district, currently held by Luis Alejo; the state’s 20th congressional district currently held by Sam Farr; and a U.S. Senate position held by Barbara Boxer.

The deadline to register to vote in on May 23 and the California primary is on June 7 .