California Statewide Direct Primary — 2018 A

Yesterday, the Official Voter Information Guide for the June primary election arrived in the mail. While I will have several sets of comments to make about this in the future, today’s post will deal with just a few points of information.

The election will take place on Tuesday, June 5, 2018.

Polls will be open from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm on election day. (If you are in line when the polls close, you still get to vote.)

May 7, 2018 is the first day to vote-by-mail.

May 21, 2018 is the last day to register to vote. You are eligible to vote if you are:

  • a U. S. citizen living in California
  • at least 18 years of age
  • registered where you currently live
  • not currently in state or federal prison or on parole for the conviction of a felony
  • not currently found mentally incompetent to vote by a court

The California Secretary of State’s Website — http://www.sos.ca.gov/ — gives you access to election information:

  • The Voter Guide
  • Registration information and status
  • Find polling place or vote center on Election Day
  • Get vote-by-mail ballot information
  • First-time voters
  • Research campaign contributions and lobbying activity (follow the money):
  • Watch live election results after poll close on Election Day

Register to Vote

Register to Vote: http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voter-registration/

There is something that is new this year, at least I’ve never seen it before: Pre-registration for 16 and 17 year olds. If you are 16 or 17 years old, you may pre-register and on your 18th birthday you will automatically be registered to vote. Just go to: http://www.RegisterToVote.ca.gov and click on the “Pre-Reigster to Vote” button and complete the information requested.

All of the above information, and more (96 pages of it) is available in the Voter Guide.

Remember, we live in a representative democracy. In a representative democracy a nation’s citizens elect people to govern for them. If you want a say in electing these people, you need to be registered to vote and then actually vote.

We are taught that as citizens we have a right to vote. Well, along with the right to vote I believe that we have a duty. I believe that we have a duty to educate ourselves about the issues and candidates and then to cast our votes accordingly.

Whether you are a centrist or you lean to the left or right of the political spectrum; whether you believe we are on the correct track politically or believe we are going to heck-in-a-handbasket; if you wish your opinion to be heard by the powers-that-be, you need to vote.

Of course, if you favor candidates and policies that are opposed to those I espouse and don’t vote, I won’t cry about it.

But, I will say: “If you don’t vote and things don’t go the way you want, don’t complain. You had your chance.”