Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Difference Among Latina/o, Asian American, and White Online [voter] Registrants in California

From the Introduction: 

On 19 September 2012, the state of California launched its online voter registration system. During the just under five-week window available for eligible voters to register online, 839,297 took advantage of this option.1 This large take-up by voters is especially notable given the state did not advertise its availability, nor did it launch a media campaign to inform voters about this option. Given that, it is reasonable to assume that voters heard about online voter registration from their social networks or from visits to the secretary of state’s website.

 22.6% percent of online registrants were Latina/o (N=189,502); 11.1% were of Asian origin (N=92,923); and 59.8% were white (N=501,614).2 These numbers are similar to the ethnoracial distribution of November 2012 registrants overall, of whom 22% were Latina/o, 9.1% were Asian American, and 61.4% were white. Our analysis of these voters shows that young Latinas/os were most likely to register online, Latina/o and Asian American online registrants were strongly Democratic in their party identification, and Latina and Asian American women registered online and turned out at higher rates than Latino and Asian American men. We also find that majorities of Latina/o and white online registrants were low or middle income, rather than affluent. Our analysis makes clear that studies of the California voting population need to look comparatively across ethnoracial3 groups and to consider gender, class, and age differences within those groups.
Source: Policy Reports and Research Briefs, Center for Latino Policy Research, Institute for the Study of Societal Issues, UC Berkeley [via eScholarship Repository]

Download full pdf publication: Difference Among Latina/o, Asian American, and White Online [voter] Registrants in California
 

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