Here’s what you need to know to vote in the March 5 primary

In less than a month state voters will go to the polls for the primary election featuring a contested presidential primary, a tight race to determine who will face off for an open U.S. Senate seat, and numerous state and local races.

And while there is not much drama over the Democratic and Republican presidential contests, there is plenty on the ballot that is compelling, said Dan Schnur, a professor of political communications at UC Berkeley and the University of Southern California. 

“Even without a competitive presidential primary, there are a number of other items on the ballot that are critical,” he said. Chief among those he said were the primary to decide who will square off in the fall for a U.S. Senate seat, and Proposition 1, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $6.4 billion bond measure to expand mental health and substance abuse programs in the state. 

Voting in a presidential primary is different than voting in the general elections. It’s complicated. Here is a rundown.

Every registered voter in the state will get a mail ballot, which started going out this week. But not every voter will get the same ballot. There are different rules for political parties that determine who votes, and how.

First, you have to be registered to vote. The San Diego County Registrar of Voters says you should be registered to vote 15 days before the election, which would be Feb. 20.

If you miss that deadline, there is still a way to participate in the election: You can register conditionally, and cast a provisional ballot. Here is a step-by-step from the registrar on how to do that. 

If you want to vote for president in the Republican primary, then you must register as a Republican. The GOP has a closed presidential primary, as do the Green Party and the Peace and Freedom Party. 

Voters who are registered as No Party Preference, also known as non-partisan or independent, will get a ballot that does not list the presidential primary contest for any party. The registrar says there are about 490,000 such voters in the county.

But three political parties — the Democratic, American Independent, and the Libertarian parties — allow non-partisan voters to take part in their elections, known as “crossover” voting.

Nonpartisan voters can request one of these three parties’ crossover ballots. Doing so will not register the voter as a member of the party. 

One caveat here: the Democratic Party crossover ballot does not allow nonpartisan voters to vote for the San Diego County Democratic Central Committee candidates.

While the presidential primaries are at the top of the ballot they are not the most compelling races, since President Joe Biden is expected to easily win in the Democratic primary and former President Donald Trump to do the same in the GOP race.

And there is one additional change for Republican voters. Last year the state party decided to alter how delegates are awarded. Previously, a candidate could win delegates by congressional district, so it was possible that multiple candidates could acquire some delegates. 

That system could give losing candidates some leverage, agreeing to pledge delegates to the winner in return for some policy or other concessions, Schnur said. 

This year, the party decided that any candidate who wins a majority of the vote gets all 169 of the state delegates. If no candidate gets more than 50%, the delegates will be awarded proportionally based on each candidate’s share of the total statewide vote. The change was made last summer, when it appeared that Trump might face a serious challenge.

“The fact that he didn’t need that shouldn’t obscure how eager the state party was to help him,” Schnur said. 

The open Senate seat held until earlier this year by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein may be the most competitive race. (Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Sen. Laphonza Butler to fill the seat, but she has decided not to run for a full term.)

Democrats Barbara Lee, Katie Porter and Adam Schiff – all current congressional representatives – are running against GOP candidates Steve Garvey and Eric Early. One important element here: voters will be casting votes in two separate contests. One is to fill the balance of Feinstein’s term which ends on Jan. 3, 2025. The second is for the full, six-year term beginning that date. 

Unlike the presidential race, the Senate contest and other races for congressional and state legislative seats are open under the state’s Top Two primary law. That means the top two finishers, regardless of party, will advance to the general election in November. The same is true for local elections.