CA. Vote-by mail-ballots to arrive this week
REGION: Vote-by mail-ballots to arrive this week
12 hours ago • By MARK WALKER mlwalker@nctimes.com
The ballots are coming, the ballots are coming!
Nearly 724,000 vote-by-mail ballots for the June 5 primary election are expected to start arriving in mailboxes around the county next week.
San Diego County Registrar of Voters Debra Seiler said Friday that the ballots are going out to nearly half of the total electorate. County residents increasingly choose to vote that way rather than at a neighborhood polling place.
The June ballot is packed with candidates and issues, including a pair of statewide measures. One would reduce from 14 to 12 the number of years someone can serve in the state Legislature, and one would impose an additional $1 tax on a pack of cigarettes.
"These are important issues and important offices, so we encourage everyone to make their voice heard," Seiler said.
The registrar is predicting a turnout of about 50 percent of the county's 1,456,000 registered voters.
Leading the list of candidates are those running for president, including the Republican and Democratic and minor party primary contests.
Registered nonpartisan voters can vote in the Democratic and American Independent Party primary. The GOP and all the other party primaries are open only to voters registered with those groups.
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein also appears on the ballot along with 22 would-be challengers.
Congressional races are also taking place around the county, as are contests for the state Assembly, and three county supervisor districts, including the North County seat being vacated by Pam Slater-Price.
Also on the ballot are races for Superior Court judge, the county Board of Education and mayor of the city of San Diego.
In that contest, which includes North County GOP Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, anyone who receives more than 50 percent is elected with no November run-off.
That's not the case in congressional and legislative races, where the top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, move on to the November general election.
Voters will also see a host of candidates running for party central committee offices. Election officials across the state are supporting a bill in the state Legislature that would remove those contests from future primary and general election ballots.
Seiler and other election officials argue that those seats are not public offices, cost a great deal of money to include on the ballot and should be decided by the respective parties through other means.
As her office gears up for the primary, it still needs bilingual poll workers in a variety of locations. That includes Chinese speakers in 4S Ranch, Del Mar Heights and Rancho Bernardo.
Poll workers with no bilingual abilities are still being sought in Carlsbad. Encinitas, Solana Beach and Del Mar, Seiler said.
For more information about those jobs, see the registrar's website at www.sdvote.com or call the office at 858-565-5800.
Those not registered to vote by mail but want to cast their ballots before June 5 can do by appearing in person at the registrar's office at 5201 Ruffin Road in San Diego.
The last day to register to vote in the primary is May 21.
At the close of April, Democrats held a slight advantage over Republicans countywide. The latest report said there were 514,306 Democrats, compared with 511,493 Republicans.
A sizable chunk of the electorate ---- 358,285 people ---- were registered as independents.
REGION: Vote-by mail-ballots to arrive this week : North County Times - Californian
