Non-Partisan Voter Registration Increases in September - The Trend Continues

Will voters registered to vote as Non-Partisan reach 20 percent before voter registration for the November election closes in two weeks? Based on the voter registration statistics for September released today by the secretary of state, that is a definite possibility.

Non-Partisans now account for 19.1 percent of active voters and 19.58 percent of total voters. When voters registered in one of the minor parties are added in, 25.45 percent of active and 26.11 percent of all voters chose not to affiliate with either of the two major parties. For 18 – 34 year old voters the numbers are almost 10 percent higher; 28.65 percent of active and 28.09 percent of total voters registered as Non-Partisan; 36.81 percent and 36.31 percent respectively not affiliated with either the Democratic or Republican Party.

During this same period, both the Democratic and Republican parties held constant, with changes up or down mostly less than one-tenth of one percent. This means more new registrants are choosing Non-Partisan.

As I have pointed the major political parties can slow or reverse this trend, but to do that they have to accept this growing number of independent-minded voters. Supporting the Nevada Election Modernization and Reform Act (NEMRA), working for its introduction and passage in the 2015 legislative session will help them show they value the input of this rapidly growing segment of the voting population.