Elections

Nonpartisan Voters Wanting to Vote for President: What You Need to Know

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Calling all Nonpartisan registered voters! If you vote by mail and want to vote for president, you need to inform the Registrar of Voters which mail ballot you want by Jan. 6. Otherwise, your nonpartisan mail ballot will not show any presidential candidates.

Several weeks ago, the Registrar sent the County’s nearly 350,000 Nonpartisan mail ballot voters a pre-paid return postcard requesting their selection of ballot options for the March 3, 2020 primary election. If you’re Nonpartisan and just signed up to become a mail ballot voter, you can expect a postcard outlining your options sometime this week.

So far, nearly 37,000 Nonpartisan voters have returned their postcards or re-registered. If your postcard became lost among all the holiday mail, here is what you need to know.

The American Independent, Democratic and Libertarian parties are allowing Nonpartisan voters to take part in their presidential primaries. But Nonpartisan voters must request one of these ballots to vote for that party’s presidential candidate. Your status as a Nonpartisan voter will not change.

Without the postcard, you can still go to sdvote.com to fill out the application and email it. Make sure you are registered to vote and listed as a Nonpartisan mail ballot voter before filling it out.

The Green, Peace and Freedom and Republican parties are not allowing Nonpartisan voters to take part in their presidential primaries. Nonpartisan voters wishing to vote for one of these parties’ presidential candidates must re-register to do so.

All voters can check their registration, re-register and register to vote at sdvote.com. The Registrar’s office urges you to do so well before the Feb. 18, 2020 registration deadline to avoid long delays on Election Day. For more information, call (858) 565-5800 or visit sdvote.com.

Tracy DeFore is a communications specialist with the County of San Diego Communications Office. Contact