Maricopa County Recorder’s Office
By Kevin Stone | KTAR
The Republican and Democratic parties continued losing ground to “other” in metro Phoenix voter registration numbers last month, according to elections officials.
“Other” — independents, no party preference and parties other than Democrat, Republican or Libertarian – made a net gain of 7,880 active voters in May, according to data in a tweet Tuesday by the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office.
That nearly doubled the combined pickup by the two major parties, with Democrats adding 2,201 voters and Republicans 2,007.
Most of the “other” gains came in the form of 5,655 new registrations. On top of that, 4,056 previously registered voters switched to unaffiliated, although 1,841 moved from “other” to an official party.
Meanwhile, Democrats added 2,660 new voters in May, but they lost 459 more voters who changed affiliation than they gained.
Republicans had a larger pickup of new voters than the Democrats, with 2,860, but their net loss through affiliation changes was also higher at 853.
Among the changes, 317 Republicans switched to Democrat, while 260 voters went in the other direction.
