
Purpose of study

        To determine  what percent and what type of  registered voters
        vote  after  not  having  voted  in a  number  of intermediary
        elections.

Design of study

        Registered voters who were  registered at the 29-day close for
the  1988  General  election in  Los Angeles County were compared with
those  who were registered  at the 29-day  close  for the 1992 General
election in Los Angeles County.  Those who remained registered with no
change in  their  registration  status  were matched with  the  voting
histories  from the  1988  General,  1990  General, and  1992  General
election.   The number of these voters who did not vote in the 1988 or
1990 General election but did  vote in the 1992 General  election were
collected and compared on such things as partisan identification, sex,
age and registration date.

Results of study

    3,765,388 Number of registered voters in 1988 General
    3,743,468 Number of registered voters in 1992 General
    2,727,640 Number of actual voters in 1988 General
    2,871,563 Number of actual voters in 1992 General

    2,080,982 Number whose registration status stayed the same
                between 1988 General and 1992 General
       92,577 Number whose registration status stayed the same who did
                     not vote in the 1988 or 1990 General election but
                     who did vote  in the  1992 General (4.49%  of the
                     number   whose  registration  status  stayed  the
                     same, 3.22% of the 1992 General vote)

                 Same Registration      Entire 1988 G
                   Status, no 88G         electorate
                   or 90G vote, but
                   92G vote
     Sex

                  Frequency  Percent      Frequency  Percent

      Not Given      16,494     17.8        507,261     13.5
      Female         41,646     45.0      1,750,351     46.5
      Male           34,437     37.2      1,507,821     40.0
                    -------  -------       --------   -------
        Total        92,577    100.0      3,765,388    100.0

     Party

                   Frequency  Percent     Frequency  Percent

      Democrat        54,783     59.2      2,089,641     55.5
      Republican      25,728     27.8      1,313,889     34.9
      AIP              1,291      1.4         36,454      1.0
      PAF                540       .6         15,145       .4
      Libertarian        440       .5         13,038       .3
      DCL              9,532     10.3        290,135      7.7
      Miscellaneous      263       .3          7,086       .2
                     -------  -------        -------  -------
        Total         92,577    100.0      3,765,388    100.0


     Birthyear

                   Frequency  Percent     Frequency  Percent

       Before 1940
        or missing    28,202     30.5      1,575,533     41.8
       1940            1,032      1.1         40,098      1.1
       1941            1,237      1.3         41,937      1.1
       1942            1,339      1.4         48,618      1.3
       1943            1,333      1.4         51,264      1.4
       1944            1,312      1.4         51,357      1.4
       1945            1,420      1.5         52,651      1.4
       1946            1,659      1.8         62,279      1.7
       1947            1,818      2.0         69,835      1.9
       1948            1,798      1.9         68,982      1.8
       1949            1,822      2.0         69,735      1.9
       1950            1,903      2.1         71,283      1.9
       1951            1,956      2.1         74,064      2.0
       1952            1,986      2.1         77,301      2.1
       1953            1,966      2.1         78,864      2.1
       1954            2,045      2.2         81,762      2.2
       1955            2,176      2.4         82,397      2.2
       1956            2,228      2.4         85,787      2.3
       1957            2,414      2.6         90,296      2.4
       1958            2,516      2.7         92,489      2.5
       1959            2,504      2.7         92,282      2.5
       1960            2,606      2.8         93,724      2.5
       1961            2,589      2.8         92,454      2.5
       1962            2,662      2.9         90,693      2.4
       1963            2,606      2.8         87,182      2.3
       1964            2,841      3.1         82,901      2.2
       1965            2,712      2.9         75,045      2.0
       1966            2,607      2.8         67,828      1.8
       1967            2,293      2.5         58,669      1.6
       1968            2,460      2.7         57,092      1.5
       1969            2,468      2.7         54,853      1.5
       1970            2,067      2.2         46,133      1.2
                     -------  -------        -------  -------
        Total         92,577    100.0      3,765,388    100.0

        Average Age     36.7                    39.8

     Registration Year

                   Frequency  Percent     Frequency  Percent

       Before 1960
        or missing    1,437      1.6         158,335      4.2
       1960             489       .5          43,102      1.1
       1961              37       .0           4,703       .1
       1962             294       .3          33,127       .9
       1963             121       .1          11,234       .3
       1964             772       .8          60,274      1.6
       1965              77       .1           8,183       .2
       1966             598       .6          51,080      1.4
       1967             171       .2          12,667       .3
       1968           1,142      1.2          78,768      2.1
       1969             170       .2          12,471       .3
       1970             723       .8          43,575      1.2
       1971             650       .7          32,349       .9
       1972           2,277      2.5          98,012      2.6
       1973             347       .4          20,812       .6
       1974           1,394      1.5          75,715      2.0
       1975           1,182      1.3          47,544      1.3
       1976           6,175      6.7         203,235      5.4
       1977             706       .8          32,023       .9
       1978           4,390      4.7         151,972      4.0
       1979           1,546      1.7          51,997      1.4
       1980           6,899      7.5         213,286      5.7
       1981           1,288      1.4          42,496      1.1
       1982           6,535      7.1         197,059      5.2
       1983           2,270      2.5          73,472      2.0
       1984          16,015     17.3         474,141     12.6
       1985           2,351      2.5          85,955      2.3
       1986           8,409      9.1         333,055      8.8
       1987           4,058      4.4         189,000      5.0
       1988          20,054     21.7         925,746     24.6
                     -------  -------        -------  -------
       Total         92,577    100.0       3,765,388    100.0

        Average length of Registration

                        6.28 years              7.63 years

Conclusion

        The  "infrequent" voters (those  who were registered  for  the
1988  General Election, did  not  vote in that election  nor the  1990
General,  but  did  vote  in  the  1992  General)  are  somewhat  more
Democratic, younger, and have been  registered for a  less  period  of
time  than the general  pool  of 1988 General  registered voters  from
which they  came, but the differences are not great and would probably
not effect the results of any elections.  Still, these voters form 3.2
percent  of  the 1992 General vote, and thus  a disenfranchisement  of
these voters would be  something  that would  need  to  be  considered
carefully, particularly in these times of low voter turnout.
