California reached a huge milestone and I couldn’t be more proud of the people, organizations, and advocacy that got us here.
There are now 20 million registered voters in our state. That’s a BIG number. It’s larger than the population of most other states — except for Texas and Florida. And as impressive as that overall number is, here’s what else it means: 79 percent of eligible Californians have gotten registered to vote! That’s an historic high for our state.
The implications of these record-setting numbers can’t be understated. With the California Presidential Primary set for March 3, 2020, our state’s voters will have more influence in the presidential nominating contests.
We’re planning for record voter turnout. And that’s yet another reason why I recently set a deadline for counties to retire old voting machines and modernize their election infrastructure. WATCH me discuss that process on NBC News Conference Extra here:
Throughout the state, many counties are using voting systems so old that vendors no longer make replacement parts. Some use operating systems that are no longer supported and therefore security and upgrades are not available. And while county officials have worked diligently to keep this equipment up and running, our democracy is facing increasingly sophisticated threats.
It’s time for every California voter to be able to vote on modern, reliable, and secure voting equipment. I’m looking forward to working with elections officials across our state to deploy modern voting systems in time for next year’s elections.
And I’m looking forward to the record voter registration and turnout next year.
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