December Not Good for Major Parties As Both Lose Voter Share While Non-Partisan and Minor Parties Gain

December, 2016 Voter registration numbers are in and the trend continues.  Even though the state recorded only a small gain in active registered voters (943), the anomaly that was November gave way to a continuation of the trend where both the Democratic and Republican Party lost voter share while Non-Partisan and minor parties continue to gain. As what has become normal, the trend is across all demographics, state-wide, Clark County, Washoe County, rural counties, among 18 to 34 year olds and those 55 and over.

State-Wide

Party	Change in # Voters	% Change	% Voter Share	Difference in Voter Share %
D	-147	-0.02	39.55	-0.04
R	32	0.01	33.11	-0.02
NP	548	0.17	20.88	0.03
Other	510	0.53	6.46	0.03
Total not D or R			27.34	0.06

Other includes IAP, Lib, and 5 parties without ballot access.

Change is # voters: IAP +0.64%; Lib +0.80%; other 5 parties -0.12%

Clark County

Party	Change in # Voters	% Change	% Voter Share	Difference in Voter Share %
D	-197	-0.04	43.23	-0.02
R	-311	-0.1	28.88	-0.03
NP	30	0.01	21.79	0.00
Other	365	0.57	6.09	0.03
Total not D or R			27.88	0.03

Other includes IAP, Lib, and 5 parties without ballot access.

Change is # voters: IAP +0.73%; Lib +0.77%; other 5 parties -0.09%

Washoe County

Party	Change in # Voters	% Change	% Voter Share	Difference in Voter Share %
D	30	0.03	35.83	-0.05
R	121	0.12	37.09	-0.01
NP	228	0.43	19.84	0.05
Other	64	0.33	7.24	0.01
Total not D or R			27.08	0.06

Other includes IAP, Lib, and 5 parties without ballot access.

Change is # voters: IAP +0.43%; Lib +0.85%; other 5 parties -0.41%

 Rural Counties

Party	Change in # Voters	% Change	% Voter Share	Difference in Voter Share %
D	20	0.04	24.31	-0.07
R	222	0.23	51.04	-0.05
NP	290	0.90	17.23	0.10
Other	81	0.58	7.41	0.01
Total not D or R			24.64	0.11

Other includes IAP, Lib, and 5 parties without ballot access.

Change is # voters: IAP +0.53%; Lib +0.90%; other 5 parties +0.55%

18 – 34 Year Old

Party	Change in # Voters	% Change	% Voter Share	Difference in Voter Share %
D	-567	-0.34	39.63	-0.03
R	-388	-0.41	22.74	-0.04
NP	-222	-0.18	29.58	0.02
Other	78	0.23	8.04	0.04
Total not D or R			37.62	0.06

Other includes IAP, Lib, and 5 parties without ballot access.

Change is # voters: IAP +0.43%; Lib +0.56%; other 5 parties -0.48%

55+

Party	Change in # Voters	% Change	% Voter Share	Difference in Voter Share %
D	484	0.20	40.07	-0.05
R	768	0.31	40.48	0.00
NP	639	0.74	14.29	0.03
Other	233	0.75	5.16	0.02
Total not D or R			19.45	0.05

Other includes IAP, Lib, and 5 parties without ballot access.

Change is # voters: IAP +0.80%; Lib +0.69%; other 5 parties +0.44%

Major party loses also continue in congressional and legislative districts.

Congressional Districts

Party	# Districts Lose Voter Share	# Districts Gain Voter Share	# Districts No Change
Democratic	3	0	1
Republican	4	0	0
Non-Partisan	0	4	0
Other	0	4	0

Both CD 1 and CD 4continue to show the number of voters not affiliated with either major party is greater than or within 5% of the number of voters registered to one of the major parties.

State Senate Districts

Party	# Districts Lose Voter Share	# Districts Gain Voter Share	# Districts No Change
Democratic	16	5	0
Republican	17	4	0
Non-Partisan	5	14	2
Other	1	19	1

In 13 districts (61.9%) the number of voters registered as Non-Partisan or the total number not affiliated with either major party is greater than or within 5% of the number of voters registered to one of the major parties.

State Assembly Districts

Party	# Districts Lose Voter Share	# Districts Gain Voter Share	# Districts No Change
Democratic	30	10	2
Republican	32	8	2
Non-Partisan	11	29	2
Other	5	34	3

In 31 districts (73.81%) the number of voters registered as Non-Partisan or the total number not affiliated with either major party is greater than or within 5% of the number of voters registered to one of the major parties. This is an increase of one over November.

We are less than a month from the start of the 2017 Nevada legislative session. A bill draft request (BDR) has been filed to acknowledge this continuing trend. If passed, Nevada will be the first state legislature to positively address election reform; election reform normally takes a voter initiative petition.