California may be an open-primary state — but if you’re not registered to vote with any political party, you may need to file some extra paperwork in order to vote in the presidential primary on March 5.
San Diego County voters who are registered with no party preference but want to vote in a party presidential primary must inform election officials which primary ballot they want no later than Jan. 5. Otherwise, they will be mailed a nonpartisan ballot that does not include the presidential primary.
Not every party is letting nonpartisan registered voters cast a ballot in its primary, however — even if they request a crossover ballot.
If you’re registered with no party preference, you can vote in the Democratic presidential primary while remaining registered nonpartisan — but in order to vote in the Republican presidential primary, you must be registered as a Republican.
There are nearly 490,000 nonpartisan registered voters countywide, and election officials sent them all a pre-paid return postcard requesting their selection of crossover ballot for the March 5 primary.
Without the postcard, you can still complete the nonpartisan crossover party ballot request form at sdvote.com or from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at the office of the county registrar in Kearny Mesa. You can also check your registration — or register, or re-register — at that website.
The extra paperwork is only necessary to vote in the presidential primary, not for other primaries. All registered voters, whatever their party registration, can vote in March for nonpartisan contests and other public elected offices.
