Ahead of Election Day next month, Orange County is gaining registered voters.

But the latest data provided by the California secretary of state doesn’t exactly give a sparkling, clear picture of which side may prevail in Orange County in the special election on redistricting: Most of the newly added OC voters over the past seven months are registered as no party preference rather than Democrat or Republican.

Read more: Southern California’s guide to Prop. 50, the 2025 redistricting election

Orange County has added nearly 8,000 registered voters from mid-February to Sept. 5, when the secretary of state’s office last reported voter registration numbers statewide.

More than 4,300 of those newly registered voters are no party preference, whereas 459 are Democrats and 408 are Republicans.

But zoom out on the data out just a bit, and the GOP can boast a bit of a momentum advantage in Orange County.

Since October 2024, just ahead of last year’s midterm elections, the county has added more than 38,400 registered voters. Republicans account for nearly 17,000 of those new voters, while another 13,200 are registered as no party preference. Democrats make up about 3,800 of the new voters.

Still, it’s Democrats who have the upper hand, not only in California but also in Orange County.

There are more than 689,400 registered Democrats (36.28%) in the county compared to nearly 650,000 registered Republicans (34.2%) and more than 441,000 no party preference voters (23.22%). Overall, more than 1.9 million people are registered to vote in Orange County.

Statewide, registered Democrats make up nearly 45% of the nearly 22.6 million voters in California, as of the Sept. 5 tally. Republicans clock in with just over 25% and no party preference at nearly 23%.

California voters are being asked this year in the hastily-called special election to decide whether to implement new, partisan congressional maps for the 2026, 2028, and 2030 elections. That would mean forgoing the current maps drawn by a 14-member group comprising five Republicans, five Democrats, and four commissioners not affiliated with the two major parties.

The proposal only impacts congressional races. And it’s a partisan one, an effort to favor Democrats in California’s congressional elections as a way to counter similar, Republican-led plans elsewhere in the country to boost the GOP.

All six congressional districts that touch at least a portion of Orange County have seen an increase in registered voters since the October 2024 tally.

California’s 40th Congressional District, which includes communities in Riverside and San Bernardino counties as well, saw the fewest with nearly 6,900 newly registered voters since October 2024; the 46th District in just Orange County boasts the most with 12,600.

California’s 47th Congressional District, another that is OC-only, has seen an interesting fluctuation in registered voters in recent months.

While it added some 7,600 voters between October 2024 and September, it lost about 1,500 between February and September.

In fact, that loss was seen across the board for both registered Democrats and Republicans during that time frame; only the no party preference category saw an increase, and that was only 84 voters.

Ballots have already been mailed to every registered voter in California, and those can be returned by mail, at designated drop-off locations or to county elections offices. Vote centers will open on Oct. 25, and Election Day is Nov. 4.