More people in Arizona want a voice at the polls.
Recent numbers released by Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett show an increase in voter registration following the 2012 general election last November.
According to Bennett’s office, the number of registered Arizona voters in January climbed 3 percent to 3,221,133.
With hot issues looming at all levels of government, people who have never felt compelled to vote are registering along with those who let their registration expire over the years.
Even more interesting is the how Arizona voters split along party lines.
According to Bennett, the Republican party remains the biggest in Arizona, but by fewer than 100,000 registered voters.
After the 2012 election there were 1,147,543 Republicans registered to vote.
Trailing a small city’s population behind the historically dominant Arizona party, isn’t the Democratic Party, it’s those registered with independent parties or who didn’t designate a party preference.
There are 1,091,592 voters registered either Libertarian, Green, Americans Elect Party or not affiliated with any party at all.
The state’s Democratic voter population is at 981,998.
Within the “other” category, Libertarian is the most popular, while still only accounting for less than 1 percent of the state’s total registration with 23,412 members.
The Green party follows with 5,066 registered voters.
The newly recognized Americans Elect Party has 258 voters. The party enrolled as an Arizona political party in 2011.
In Yavapai County, there are 126,817 registered voters as of January.
Falling in line with the state’s political alignment, Yavapai County’s voter base is dominated by Republicans with 56,263 registered.
Again, independent parties and unaffiliated voters account for more of the registered voters than Democrats, who totalled 27,153 in the county.
There are 43,401 registered voters in the county who are not registered with the two dominant parties.
Of the 43,401, the Libertarian party claims the most voters at 886, followed by the Green party with 284 and the Americans Elect with nine.
