California’s implementation of Motor Voter has resulted in 2,346,535 current registered voters who became registered, or re-registered, at a DMV office. That’s a healthy 13% of the total electorate.
The Motor Voter share of the electorate is higher in No Party Preference by about 10 points, bringing partisan registrations down a bit, but with about the same Dem/Rep ratio as non-Motor Voter registrants. There is a larger chunk of 25-44 year-olds in the Motor Voter pool, but the ethnic breaks appear close to the state average. A full PDI count report can be downloaded here which includes three sets for comparison: All Voters, Motor Voter and Non-Motor Voter.
As campaigns look to create the most efficient campaigns, the Motor Voter registrants have some strong trends that could be used in targeting. These voters underperformed in the Generals (4-6 points in 2012, 9-10 points in 2010) but dramatically underperformed other registrants in those Primaries.
The following table has three columns for each election: non-Motor Voter, then All Motor Voter, then Motor Voter New Reg. As can be seen, the lowest participation rates came in Primary elections where New Reg Motor Voter performed at half the rate of the rest of the electorate.
The following chart delves into these voters and their participation by age in the 2012 General. Looking at ages 18 to 85+ we can see that Motor Voter participation tracks total voters, but is slightly underperforming. Their turnout is well under Online Reg and regular New Registrations under the age of 50, but over 50 New Reg and Motor Voter turnout rates look about the same.
