How did Sullivan County residents register to vote in 2025?
A new report from the Sullivan County Board of Elections reveals trends by age, gender, and party affiliation, including both active and inactive voters. These numbers shed light on local political priorities and engagement.
Here are three key insights from the data.
Younger voters increasingly registered as independents, moving away from the two major parties.
More than a third of Sullivan County’s Gen Z voters, born between 1997 and 2012, registered as unaffiliated with any political party in 2025, outpacing both Democratic and Republican registrations. Approximately 31 percent of the county’s Millennials, born between 1981 and 1996, registered as an independent or unaffiliated outside the two major parties.
These local trends track with state and national data. About 32 percent of registered voters across dozens of states registered independent or third-party in 2025, while 29 percent of voters across New York state registered as independent or third-party, according to Ballotpedia.
Democratic voter registrations have declined more sharply in the county than Republican registrations over generations.
About 40 percent of voters from the Silent and Greatest Generation – those born between 1919 and 1945, registered with the Democratic Party. Meanwhile, only 24 percent of Gen Z voters registered as Democrats, a 16 decline.
Overall, Democrats held a narrow edge ahead of Republications, with 34 percent of voter registrations compared to 33 percent respectively.
Republican voter registrations also declined across generations, though not as significantly as Democrats. Republican registrations fell from 38 percent within the Silent Generation voters to 32 percent among Gen Z voters.
The majority of women in Sullivan County registered to vote as Democrats.
About 39 percent of women registered with the Democratic Party in 2025, compared to 29 percent of women registering with the Republican Party. Women historically are more likely to register as a Democrat than men, according to Pew Research Center data.
The majority of male voters in Sullivan County – about 36 percent – registered with the Republican Party.
Minor party registrations remained stable.
Other third-party registrations remained a relatively small percentage of how Sullivan County voters registered overall. Third-party or other minor party registrations made up between six to eight percent across all generational voter blocs.
Image: Voters mark their ballots during early voting at the Park Slope Armory YMCA, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)