VOTE
Election Day is 47 Days Away. Vote Safe. Vote Secure.
The presidential primary election is March 5. The State Legislature last updated the election calendar in 2020, setting the presidential primary elections for March and the gubernatorial primary elections for June.
Primary elections are generally conducted in polling places, and select candidates for a particular political party who will appear on the general election ballot.
Voters cast ballots for candidates, therefore selecting delegates for the party conventions. The top candidate in a state’s primary election can either get all of that state’s delegates (winnertake all format), or they can be apportioned proportionally to the primary election results. Some states have thresholds where every candidate who gets over a certain amount of the vote may be entitled to delegates.
Democrats apportion all of their delegates proportionally. Republicans generally require that states with primaries before March 15 apportion delegates proportionally. States with primaries after March 15 may switch to a winner-take-all format.
California uses a top two primary format such as a common ballot, listing all candidates on the same ballot. In California, each candidate lists his or her party affiliation. The top two vote-getters in each race, regardless of party, advance to the general election.
People can visit ocvote.gov/ registration before Feb. 20 to check their registration status or to make any necessary updates. —Bob Page, Registrar of Voters