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Voting for president? Make sure ballot has option you want

The San Diego County Registrar’s office is sending nearly 1.8 million postcards to the county’s registered voters in the coming weeks to let them know that their political party registration determines which presidential primary candidates will appear on their March 3, 2020, primary election ballot.

So – who can voters vote for? It depends on how they’re registered. All registered voters fall under one of two categories.

First, they are registered with a political party.

If a voter is registered with one of the six political parties in California, their ballot will list only that party’s presidential primary candidates. They can vote only for that party’s presidential candidates.

If the party registration is different from the party of the presidential primary candidate, the voter wants to vote for, they will need to register to vote with that party.

Or, they are registered as nonpartisan.

If a voter is registered as nonpartisan, which is also known as independent or no party preference, their March 3 ballot will not list the presidential primary contest or candidates. More than 550,000 voters in San Diego County are registered as nonpartisan. If a voter is one of them, they can take steps now to vote for a presidential candidate in the primary.

Some political parties allow nonpartisan voters to cross over.

This year, the American Independent, Democratic and Libertarian parties are allowing nonpartisan voters to take part in their presidential primary elections.

But nonpartisan voters must request one of these three parties’ ballots to vote for that party’s presidential primary candidate. Selecting one of these three parties’ ballots will not register the nonpartisan voter with that party. They will remain a nonpartisan voter.

More than 300,000 nonpartisan voters are also permanent mail ballot voters. If a voter is one, they will receive a postcard asking them to let the Registrar’s office know their choice of party ballot before Jan. 6, so it is included in the first mailing of mail ballots going out the week of Feb. 11. Otherwise, the voter will receive the nonpartisan ballot, which will not include the presidential contest.

Also note that the Democratic Party is allowing nonpartisan voters to vote in its presidential contest but not its central committee contest. If requested, nonpartisan voters will receive the nonpartisan version of the Democratic ballot.

Some political parties are not allowing nonpartisan voters to cross over.

This year, the Green, Peace and Freedom and Republican parties have closed their presidential primary to nonpartisan voters.

That means a voter needs to be registered with one of those parties to vote for their primary election presidential candidates. Nonpartisan voters will not be able to select one of these ballots. Nonpartisan voters who want one of these parties’ ballots will need to re-register with that party.

No matter what their party preference, all registered voters will be allowed to vote on nonpartisan contests and voter-nominated offices, such as U.S. congressional offices and state legislative offices. The top two vote-getters in voter-nominated contests will advance to the November general election.

If a resident is not sure how they are registered or if they are registered to vote, they can check their registration status, re-register and register to vote at http://www.sdvote.com. The Registrar’s office encourages everyone to do so well before Feb. 17, 2020, to avoid long delays on Election Day.

For more information, call (858) 565-5800 or visit http://www.sdvote.com.

 

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