On Dec. 16, Secretary of State Alex Padilla certified California’s November General Election results, saying that 75.3 percent of registered voters cast a ballot in California’s Nov. 8 election.
“2016 was a record-breaking year for elections in California,” Padilla said. “A record 19.4 million Californians were registered to vote for the General Election. Over 14.6 million Californians voted— by far the most ever. The percentage of eligible Californians casting a ballot was the second-highest figure in 30 years.”
Padilla also said voting by mail continues to be popular.
“This was the sixth straight statewide election in which a majority of ballots cast were vote-by-mail ballots,” he said. Vote-by-mail ballots accounted for 57.79 percent of all votes cast.
Padilla said 14,610,509 total ballots were cast statewide. (The previous record was 13,743,177, in 2008.
Also, the turnout included 75.27 percent of registered voters, which is the most since November 2008, according to the secretary of state.
The turnout also included 58.74 percent of all eligible Californians, which is the second-highest figure in the last 30 years.
The total number of registered voters was 19,411,771, the most ever heading into a General Election. (The previous record was 18,245,970 in November 2012.
Democrat Hillary Clinton won California with 62.2 percent of the vote. Clinton won by a margin of more than 4.2 million votes over Donald Trump. This is the largest margin of victory for a Presidential candidate in California since 1936, Padilla said.
