BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Ballots continue to be counted in Kern County, but the question remains: who came out to cast their ballots?
According to the latest data, Kern County has 559,061 eligible voters, and 78 percent are registered. But since the recall election last September, the percentage of registered voters actually decreased because the number of eligible voters increased by over 30,000, but only 300 people registered between now and last September.
23ABC political analyst Ivy Cargile says registration and turnout are typically low for midterms and primaries, but more so this time.
“There wasn’t a lot of excitement. I think there was a lot of excitement over the recall that there was over this and of course a lot of excitement over the presidential because the advertising was everywhere. If you think about just driving into downtown for the presidential and the recall election, you see signs everywhere. We saw signs this time around, but not to the magnitude that we see for the presidential election.”
Looking back to previous years, voter registration consistently increased from the 2018 midterm to the 2020 presidential election and then the gubernatorial recall election, but dipped this year.