Voting for president next year? Be sure you can

California's presidential primary election is one year away. But it's not too early to give residents a heads up – political parties decide who is able to vote for their presidential candidates. A voter may need to change their voter registration party status with the Registrar of Voters to vote for who they want March 3, 2020.

Register with a political party.

If a voter is registered with a political party, their ballot will list that party's presidential candidates. They can only vote for that party's presidential candidates.

Or, register with no party preference or nonpartisan.

If a voter is registered "No Party Preference," also known as nonpartisan, no presidential candidates will be listed on their ballot. As of Feb. 28, just over 580,000 voters in San Diego County were registered as "No Party Preference."

"No Party Preference" voters who want to vote for a presidential candidate do have options, however.

They can vote for a presidential candidate from only one of the political parties that allows nonpartisan voters to cross over to that party's ballot. Political parties have until Oct. 20 to decide whether to allow nonpartisan voters to take part in their presidential primaries.

If a voter is registered as "No Party Preference," but they want to vote for a presidential candidate in one of the parties that does not allow nonpartisan voters to cross over, they must re-register with that party. For example, in 2016's presidential primary, the Green, Peace and Freedom and Republican parties allowed only registered members to vote for presidential candidates in their primaries.

If someone is not sure how they're registered or if they're still registered to vote? They can check their current registration status or register at http://www.sdvote.com. For more information, call (858) 565-5800.