surely someone knows enough for a quick rundown?
no big deal. just curious.
jeff
On Friday, February 15, 2002, at 01:24 PM, Patrick Ellis wrote:
> All but Californians can go to the next post; this is merely some
> nuts & bolts information about new voting rules in the upcoming
> California Primary on March 5th. For the third time in as many
> primaries, the rules for cross-party voting have changed.
>
> Deadline for registration is a postmark of this coming Tuesday,
> February 19th. Post offices are the easiest place to find a
> registration card, or you can print one out from the web at:
> http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/english.pdf.
>
> California is using a "modified closed primary system" this time
> around. What this basically means is that if a party has chosen to
> allow it, you can vote their ballot without being registered in the
> party. You need to be registered as a "decline to state" voter in
> order to do this. You also will have to vote their entire ballot; you
> cannot vote within different parties for different races.
>
> According to the Secretary of State's site, the following parties have
> opted to allow decline to state voters to vote their ballots: American
> Independent, Democrats, Natural Law, & Republicans. To vote any other
> party's ballot you must be registered in that party, so if you wish to
> participate in the selection of the Green candidates, for instance, you
> need to be registered as a Green.
>
> Also note that if a party fails to maintain at least 1% of the voting
> population (determined by the total voters in the previous election) or
> get a petition signed by 10% of the voting population, then they lose
> the ability to automatically place their candidates on the ballot.
> People registered in the Peace & Freedom Party or another low
> registration party may thus feel it is important to retain their
> registration in their party. Peace & Freedom currently doesn't meet
> either of the criteria and so must qualify each individual candidate by
> petition. Currently qualified parties in California are the four
> above, Green, and Reform.
>
> The other thing to be aware about in this primary is that provisional
> ballots will supposedly be easier to get and have counted. Since the
> registration deadline is so close to voting day, it is very likely lots
> of last-minute registrations won't be reflected in the polling place
> lists. If denied because you're not on the list, or your registration
> hasn't been updated to reflect a new party affiliation or decline to
> state status, demand a provisional ballot. A photocopy of your new
> registration may help, although technically it has no meaning.
>
> Patrick Ellis
>