California’s presidential primary election is in a few weeks. Who you can vote for in the primary may depend on if you are registered with a political party. Managing editor Tami Roleff explains…
California has a “modified” closed primary system for presidential elections. Voters who are not registered with a political party (known as “no party preference, or “decline to state”) may request a ballot for the Democratic, American Independent, or Libertarian candidates.
However, you must be a registered voter in the Republican, Green, and Peace and Freedom parties in order to vote for their candidates. To vote for a Republican, or Green, or Peace and Freedom candidate, you must change your voter registration by February 18.
If you do not request a party ballot, or do not re-register with one of the above three political parties, you will receive a non-partisan ballot for the March 3 primary, which does not include any candidates for president. (The ballot will still include contests for other federal, state, and local offices for which you are eligible to vote.)
Voters who registered to vote without stating a political party preference are known as No Party Preference (NPP) voters. NPP voters were formerly known as “decline-to-state” or “DTS” voters.
For presidential primary elections: NPP voters will receive a “non-partisan” ballot that does not include presidential candidates. A nonpartisan ballot contains only the names of candidates for voter-nominated offices and local nonpartisan offices and measures. However, NPP voters may vote in a political party’s partisan election if the political party, by party rule duly noticed to the Secretary of State, authorizes NPP voters to vote in the next presidential primary election. An NPP voter may request the ballot of one of the political parties, if any, that authorizes NPP voters to vote in the presidential primary election.
Citizens can register to vote online at SBCountyElections.com. Registration forms area also available at post offices, city clerk offices, county libraries, and the DMV. Voters who are already registered should re-register to vote if they have changed their signature, name, or address, or want to change their party affiliation. If you miss the deadline, a new California law allows conditional voter registration up until election day.
