PHOENIX — Data from Arizona voter registration statistics over the last week may suggest that Arizona Republicans could already be responding unfavorably to the January 6 breach of the Capitol by Trump supporters attending a “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington, D.C.
According to transaction data obtained from the Arizona Secretary of State, there were five times more requests by Arizona Republicans to switch or remove their party affiliation than their Democratic counterparts between January 6 and January 13.
In the days following the siege at the Capitol, 4,937 Republicans sent in a request to their county registrar of voters to switch or remove the party affiliation on their voter registration. Sixty-seven percent of these transactions designated the voter as “No Party Preference” by removing the affiliation from the voter registration record.
At the same time, 918 Arizona Democrats made similar requests, with 72% of those transactions removing party affiliation.
On the inverse, 961 registrants requested that a party be added to their voter registration record with 401 of them requesting to become Democrats and 325 of them Republicans.
With over 4.3 million registered voters in Arizona, the 7,428 voter registration transactions represent only a small sliver of voters in the state. However, if the trend continues over time, it could have an important impact on state politics for years to come since the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission will use party registration data as a factor in how districts are balanced out.
It also comes at a time when most voter registration transactions involve county registrars transferring voters from “Active” to “Inactive” if official election mail sent to their address came back undeliverable.
