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PHOENIX - Newly released information from the Maricopa County Recorder shows over 10,000 registered Republican voters have switched their party affiliation.
According to a tweet made by the Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer on Feb. 12, 10,261 voters who were registered as Republicans have switched their party affiliation in 2021, compared to 2,270 Democratic voters who switched their party affiliation.
The same tweet shows that 10,416 voters have changed their party affiliation to "other."
The Arizona Secretary of State's Office has yet to release voter registration numbers for 2021, but according to its latest figures from November 2020, there are a total of just over 1.5 million GOP voters in Arizona, compared to a total of just over 1.37 million Democratic voters in the state.
Changes in party affiliation reported following Capitol insurrection
In his tweet, Richer did not say what led to the drop in GOP voter registration, but according to a report by the Associated Press in January, some GOP-registered voters have changed their party affiliation following the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
"I do think there’s a palpable shift, from knee-jerk defense of the president to ‘wow, that was a bridge too far,’" former GOP Speaker of the Arizona State House Kirk Adams said in the AP report.
Adams said he knew several people, including once-solid Trump supporters, who are switching their registrations. He said it may be weeks or months before the full impact of the insurrection is clear.
"Minds are being changed," he said. "But you can’t go overnight from ‘I think the president’s right and the election is being stolen’ to ‘I guess he was wrong about everything.'"
The AP report noted that it is unclear whether GOP voters who have changed their party affiliation are united in their motivations. Some may be rejecting politics altogether while others may be leaving a Republican Party they fear will be less loyal to Trump.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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