When voters go to the polls for the June 7 Presidential Primary, three parties have opened their ballot to voters who are registered with No Party Preference.
If the Democratic primary is still competitive in June, California voters will have an opportunity to recommend the party’s nominee — either Hillary Clinton or Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The other two parties, which will permit No Party Preference registered voters to cast a ballot in their primary, are the American Independent Party and the Libertarian Party.
Three parties — the Republican, Green, and Peace and Freedom — have chosen to limit their ballots to voters who are registered as a member of that party.
No Party Preference voters may request American Independent, Democratic, and Libertarian presidential primary ballots at their polling place on election day or through the California Vote-By-Mail Ballot Application, according to California Secretary of State Alex Padilla.
Mail ballots for the June 7 primary election may be obtained by filling out the application at http://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/vote-by-mail/pdf/fill-in-vote-by-mail-app-instruct.pdf.
California citizens may register to vote or update their registration information —including party preference —at http://registertovote.ca.gov/.
JP Crumrine can be reached at [email protected].
How to obtain a vote-by-mail ballot
Any registered voter may vote using a vote-by-mail ballot instead of going to the polls on election day.
All valid vote-by-mail ballots are counted in every election in California, regardless of the outcome or closeness of any race. For more information on how and when ballots are verified and tabulated, visit the description of how the official canvass of the vote is completed at www.sos.ca.gov/elections/official-canvass/.
A voter may apply for a vote-by-mail ballot in person.
If you apply by mail, your application must be received no later than seven days before election day. Anytime after seven days, you will need to apply in person at your county elections office to request a vote-by-mail ballot for that election.
For the June 7 presidential primary election, the last day to apply by mail for a vote-by-mail ballot is May 31, 2016.
You can use the application printed on your Sample Ballot mailed by your county elections official prior to every election. If you don’t want to wait for your sample ballot, you can write to your county elections official for an application or you may use the state Vote-by-Mail application (visit the Town Crier website).
Do not send it to the Secretary of State’s office because this will delay receipt of your vote-by-mail ballot.
The Secretary of State also provides California applications in Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog, Thai and Vietnamese. These forms are available at www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voting-resources/new.
