What percentage of registered voters in CA voted in the last presidential election

1. What the headline numbers say: ballots counted and percent of registered voters

The California Secretary of State and independent analysts reported “just over 16 million” ballots counted in 2024; contemporaneous reporting expected a final total around 16,084,660, which equals roughly 71.2% of the state's reported 22,595,659 registered voters ^{[1] [2] [4]}. Multiple outlets use the Secretary of State’s county participation PDFs to compile these percentages, so the 71% figure is the common working estimate for turnout as a share of registered voters in the 2024 presidential contest ^{[4] [2]}.

2. Why that number matters: comparison with 2020 and “exceptional” turnout

The 2024 figure represents a sharp decline from 2020, when California saw historically high turnout — about 17.7 million ballots and roughly 80–81% of registered voters — meaning a fall of roughly 9–10 percentage points of registered‑voter turnout between 2020 and 2024 ^{[3] [1]}. Researchers emphasize that 2020 was an outlier: turnout then was the highest in decades, so some of the drop in 2024 reflects normalization from an unusually mobilized year ^[1].

3. Different measures, different baseline: registered vs. eligible voters

Scholars differentiate turnout as a share of registered voters (the metric journalists often cite) and turnout as a share of eligible citizens (a broader denominator). The USC study and PPIC analysis note declines both ways: about a five percentage‑point decline among eligible voters and a roughly 10 percentage‑point fall among registered voters relative to 2020, depending on the exact numerator and denominator used ^{[5] [1]}. Which metric you prefer changes the headline interpretation: percent of registered voters (~71%) or percent of eligible residents (lower and showing a larger historical drop) ^{[1] [5]}.

4. Who drove the drop: demographic patterns and turnout declines

Multiple analyses point to disproportionate declines among young voters, Latino and Asian voters, and other groups that were especially mobilized in 2020. For example, young turnout (18–24) fell sharply — PPIC reports a drop of about 12.7 percentage points in that age group — and Latino turnout fell from near 54% in 2020 to roughly 46% in 2024 in some reports ^{[6] [7]}. USC’s Center for Inclusive Democracy found losses concentrated among groups labeled “lost 2020 general voters,” including young and historically underrepresented voters ^[5].

5. Sources disagree on the size of the decline — and why

Estimates of the magnitude of the turnout drop vary across sources: some say turnout decreased nearly five percentage points among eligible voters (USC), while county-level tallies and journalistic estimates put registered‑voter turnout near 71% (San Jose Inside) and find declines of up to about 10–11 percentage points versus 2020 (CapRadio, CalMatters) ^{[5] [2] [8] [3]}. The variation comes from different denominators (eligible vs. registered), the timing of counts (provisional vs. certified totals), and whether analysts compare to 2020’s unusually high baseline ^{[1] [4]}.

6. How officials and analysts explain the drop — competing explanations

Commentators offer competing explanations: some say 2024 simply lacked the extraordinary mobilizing forces of 2020 and that automatic registration expanded the rolls (potentially lowering the registered‑voter turnout rate) ^{[1] [8]}. Others emphasize demographic-specific nonvoting — younger and Latino voters skipping the 2024 election — which could have partisan consequences ^{[7] [6]}. Analysts caution that some drivers won’t be clear for months, because detailed voter files and post‑election studies are still being processed ^[8].

7. What’s not in these sources / limitations to bear in mind

Available sources do not mention a single universally accepted final percentage that reconciles every methodological choice; official county participation PDFs and certified returns can be used to compute slightly different percentages depending on inclusion rules ^[4]. Also, deeper causal attribution (why specific groups sat out) remains tentative in current reporting and requires more post‑election research ^{[8] [6]}.

Conclusion: If you want a concise answer used by many news outlets, cite roughly 71% of registered voters in California participated in the 2024 presidential election (about 16.08 million ballots), noting that this is down from about 80–81% (17.7 million) in 2020 and that analysts and state reports vary based on denominator and timing ^{[2] [3] [4] [1]}.