New York City is experiencing a very steep drop in new voter registrations.

The city Campaign Finance Board reported that just 79,777 new voters signed up as of June. That’s about half the number —155,215 — who registered four years ago in the last presidential election year.

The board at a hearing Wednesday said the coronavirus crisis halted most, if not all, in-person voter registration efforts. It said registering through the DMV doesn’t work for the many non-drivers in the city and registering via mail-in form doesn’t appeal to young people.

The board has long advocated for the process to be universally accessible online.

“In this critical presidential election year, New York deserves an online voter registration system that all voters can access,” said Amy Loprest, executive director of the Campaign Finance Board. “We urge our state leadership to protect our democracy by providing new voters a safe, secure, and accessible way to register to vote.”

The decline of registrations in New York matches a trend seen nationwide.

This primary season, of 3.3 million eligible primary voters, about 767,000 requested absentee ballots and about 490,000 voted in-person.