Voting in the Primary Election

Being registered with a political party will make a difference when you vote in a Presidential primary election, but in California it will not make a difference when you vote in the statewide primary election for state constitutional, U.S. Congressional, and state legislative offices. Both the next Presidential and statewide primaries will be held on June 5, 2012.

Summary

Presidential Primary

If you are registered to vote with a political party, you will be given a ballot for that party in a Presidential primary election.

If you are unaffiliated with any party (sometimes called “no party preference” or "decline to state"), you will be given a nonpartisan ballot, containing only the names of all candidates for nonpartisan offices and any ballot measures to be voted upon at the primary election.

Or, you may be able to request the ballot of one of the political parties at the polls or on your vote-by-mail ballot request form. Each political party has the option of allowing decline-to-state voters to vote in their Presidential primary.

California Statewide Primary

As of June 2012, California will start using the Top Two Candidate Open Primary system for statewide offices.  All candidates for a given state or congressional office will be listed on a single Primary Election ballot. Voters can vote for the candidate of their choice for these offices. The top two candidates, as determined by the voters, will advance to the General Election in November.

History of California Statewide Primary Elections

Until 1996 a “closed” primary system governed California’s primary elections. In a "closed" primary system only voters registered in a political party could vote that party's primary ballot. Unaffiliated (“no party preference” or "decline-to-state") voters vote only on whatever measures and nonpartisan candidates were on the ballot.

This system was amended by the passage of Proposition 198 in March, 1996 and changed to a “blanket” or “open” primary, in which any voter can vote for any candidate without declaring a party preference. In 1998 the United States Supreme Court declared California’s open primary system unconstitutional saying it violated a political party’s First Amendment right of association. The state reverted to using the closed primary system.

The closed primary system in California was amended in 2000 when Senate Bill 28 implemented a “modified” closed primary system, which permitted voters who declined to register with any political party to vote for a party’s candidates in a primary election if authorized by that party’s rules and duly noticed by the Secretary of State.

Current Statewide Primary Rules

On June 8, 2010, California voters approved Proposition 14, which created the Top Two Candidates Open Primary. This system is used in primary elections for state constitutional, U.S. Congressional, and state legislative offices, but not for U.S. President or the parties’ county central committee offices.

Under the Top Two Primary system, all candidates running in a primary election, regardless of their party preference, will appear on a single Primary Election ballot and voters can vote for any candidate. Only the top two overall vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, will advance to the General Election.

The Secretary of State has posted a useful comparison of the new Top-Two system with the former "modified closed primary" system, including the change to "voter-nominated" offices rather than party nominated offices and the elimination of write-in candidates in general elections. For the complete list of comparisons, please go to this link. The Alameda County Registrar of Voters has useful information about the elective offices that are affected by the Top Two Primary system here.