What’s on the Ballot

Party-nominated offices are contests in which the nominee is selected by the political party.

Party‐Nominated Contests:

• U.S. President
• County Central Committees.

During a Presidential Primary Election, only registered voters in that political party can vote for that party’s candidate on the ballot. This is known as a Closed Presidential Primary.

The exception to that rule: When candidates for the President are on the Primary Election Ballot, some–but not all–political parties choose to allow No Party Preference (NPP) voters to participate in their primary without having to re-register. This is known as a “crossover” or a Modified-Closed Presidential Primary. If you are not registered with one of the certified political parties, the state election laws consider you to be a NPP voter and you will be given the option to crossover.

Certified political parties in California:

• American Independent Party (AI)
• Democratic Party (DEM)
• Green Party (GRN)
• Libertarian Party (LIB)
• Peace & Freedom Party (PF)
• Republican Party (REP)

If a qualified political party chooses to hold a Modified-Closed Presidential Primary, the party must notify the California Secretary of State no later than the 135th day before Election Day. Counties will then notify voters as to which parties allow crossovers as the presidential primary election draws near.

If you are a NPP voter, you have 3 choices for how to participate in the primary:

1. Request a crossover. This is only allowed for the parties that authorize it.
2. Re-register. Do this if you want to participate in the party’s primary but do not have the option to crossover.
3. Do nothing. You will be provided a ballot with no presidential candidates on it, but every other contest will be available to you to vote on.

No matter how you decide to participate in the presidential primary, everyone will be able to vote for President and Vice-President in the November General Election.

Voter‐Nominated offices are contests in which the nominee is selected by the voter. In voter‐nominated contests, any voter can vote for any candidate, regardless of party. It also allows candidates to choose whether they want to disclose their party preference on the ballot.

Voter-nominated contests affected by Top-Two rule:

• United States Senator
• United States Representative in Congress
• Governor
• Lieutenant Governor
• Secretary of State
• Controller
• Insurance Commissioner
• State Treasurer
• Attorney General
• Member, State Board of Equalization
• Member of the State Senate
• Member of the State Assembly

On June 8, 2010, California voters passed Proposition 14, which created the “Top-Two Open Primary Act.” As such, all Voter-Nominated office candidates appear on all ballots. The top two vote-getters, regardless of their party affiliations, advance to the General Election. Consequently, it is possible for two candidates belonging to the same political party to win in a top-two primary and face off in the general election.

Top-Two does not affect the election of President and County Central Committees, which are Party-Nominated contests. President and County Central Committees only appear on ballots of voters who are registered as the Party of their affiliations. See section on Party-Nominated contests for more information.

A Non‐Partisan contest is an office in which no political party nominates a candidate. Superintendent of Public Instruction, Superior Court Judges, County Offices, Municipal Offices, Schools, and Special Districts are examples of non‐partisan offices.

Primary Election Non‐Partisan contests:

• Superintendent of Public Instruction
• Judge of the Superior Court
• Board of Supervisors
• Assessor
• Auditor
• County Clerk-Recorder
• District Attorney-Public Administrator*
• Sheriff
• Coroner¶
• County Treasurer-Tax Collector
• Superintendent of Schools

General Election only Non‐Partisan contests:
(These offices are not included in the Primary Election.)

• Member, School District Boards
• Member, County Board of Education
• Director, Special District Boards
• Member, City Council/City Treasurer/
• Member, County Central Committees

For Non‐Partisan contests that are included in the Primary Election:
If a candidate receives simple majority of votes win outright in the Primary. If no candidate receives a majority of the vote, then the top‐two vote‐getters move on to the General Election for a run-off.

For Non‐Partisan contests that are only included in the General Election:
The Candidate that receives the highest number of votes wins outright in the General Election. There is no run-off election for these candidates.

You may write in a qualified write‐in candidate’s name on the ballot in a Primary Election contest. If a voter writes in a name of a non-qualified candidate, it will be treated like a “no-vote” for that selection. A list of qualified write‐in candidates will be provided here once available from the California Secretary of State’s office.

In the General Election, you may only write‐in a qualified candidate’s name in a Party‐Nominated contest. Write-in candidates for Voter-Nominated offices can only run in the Primary Election. However, a write-in candidate in the Primary Election can move on to the General Election if the candidate is one of the top two vote-getters in the Primary Election.