California Pre-registers 16- and 17-Year-Old Potential Voters

California’s voter preregistration program, which automatically signs up qualifying 16- and 17-year-olds when they apply for a driver’s license or state ID, has added 88,700 future voters since the program’s commencement in 2017. High school students across the state have told Secretary of State Alex Padilla that “they can’t wait to cast their first ballot” once they turn 18. In Santa Barbara County, 442 registered Democrat, 107 Republican, 14 Green, and 11 Libertarian among the 1,057 total as of early March. “No party preference” was the choice for 429.