california after 1972

[freepcrusher]

is there a reason why the state as percentage of the electorate - tapered off and eventually declined, after 1972? Here is the state as a percentage of the electorate

1972 10.8%
1976 9.6%
1980 9.9%
1984 10.3%
1988 10.8%
1992 10.7%
1996 10.4%
2000 10.4%
2004 10.2%
2008 10.3%
2012 10.1%

[barfbag]

Big government is pushing people away in very small doses while immigration is keeping the population leveled.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

California is growing at a fairly normal rate. The massive growth that started in the 1920's couldn't last forever.

[barfbag]

For the first time they didn't pick up any electoral votes.

[old timey villain]

1976 could be low turnout. Maybe Ford was too liberal for California Republicans and Carter was too conservative for California democrats?

[barfbag]

1976 could be low turnout. Maybe Ford was too liberal for California Republicans and Carter was too conservative for California democrats?

Both candidates finished below 50% too.

[eric82oslo]

2 other reasons could be:

1) California is getting further and further away from being a battleground for each consecutive election, at least starting in the (early) 90ies.
2) By the time many California citizens are about to vote, the news networks have usually already declared a winner, like they did last year when they declared Ohio very early on.

[stevekamp]

Fifty percent of the California vote is cast by vote by mail ballots that start going out around October 6.  However, many voters wait until Election Day to personally drop off these ballots, which creates a backlog of ballots that do not start getting counted until Wednesday or Thursday (the canvass period is E plus 28).

All of the ballots in WA and OR are by mail.  in WA, the ballot is counted if it is postmarked by E day and arrives before the official canvass is completed.

In Nevada, 58% vote early, and another 9% vote by mail.  These are "all in" when the polls close at 7 pm.