AZ: Ranks of Dems and GOP Continue to Dwindle, Independents on the Rise

From the Green Valley News and Sun:

The burgeoning independent voting bloc is shaping up as the key battleground for the 2010 elections as the two major political parties watch their numbers erode statewide and locally.  Arizona’s Republican Party lost 5,896 voters between Jan. 1 and March 1, according to figures released Wednesday by Secretary of State Ken Bennett. The Democrats lost 9,637 voters in the same period.  That left the GOP with 1,121,753 voters, and the Democrats with 1,024,758.  The only growing group of voters are those registered as Independent, unaffiliated or members of an unrecognized political party. That category increased to 939,542, up 10,323 registered voters in the state.