The fastest growing political affiliation in New York isn't the Democratic or Republican parties. Instead, over the last decade, more New York voters are registered as political independents — unaligned with any of the major or minor parties on the ballot. 

Known officially as "blanks," voters who are not enrolled in any party have far outpaced any other political affiliation in the state, even as Democrats have come to dominate voter registration overall in New York. 

Updated enrollment statistics released this week by the state Board of Elections paints a stark picture for New York's electoral landscape: Democrats continue to hold a large enrollment advantage over Republicans, with 6.1 million registered voters. Republicans, meanwhile, have just over 2.7 million voters registered with their party. 

Both parties lost voters over the last year — an unsurprising development coming off a presidential election cycle that often sees a swell in enrollment. But independent or unenrolled voters grew their ranks by 46,829 additional voters. 

That is likely due to the elimination of several minor parties on the ballot line after they lost their status following the implementation of more stringent rules for being a viable party. The Greens and Libertarians, as well as the Independence Party, lost their ballot status, and voters enrolled in those parties were automatically switched to unaffiliated. 

New York allows voters to enroll in either the Democratic, Republican, Working Families Party or Conservative Party. Voters can also choose to not identify with a party, and cannot take part in primary elections. 

But the trend since 2010 has shown a marked increase in unaffiliated voters. Over the last decade, voters who have chosen to not pick a political party have grown by 22%. Democrats, by comparison, have increased their enrollment by 14% over the same time period. 

And Republicans, who have not won a statewide election since 2002, have seen their growth in party enrollment largely flat since 2010. 

A year ago for the first time saw active unaffiliated voters outnumber registered Republicans in New York.