California Primary: Key Dates And The Conspiracy That Wasn't

LOS ANGELES, CA — There are less than two months to go before Super Tuesday when Californians join voters in 13 other states to cast a ballot in the March 3 presidential primary. That’s just enough time for voters to build up their muscles for scrolling through the whopping 53 presidential candidates who qualified for the ballot.

It’s an early primary for California, which moved up its primary to play a more relevant role in the presidential race. But the state’s open primary (also known as a jungle primary) remains relatively new, and it appears to be causing no shortage of confusion and frustration among Republican-leaning independent voters, who are discovering that they won’t be able to cast a primary vote for President Donald Trump or any of the seven Republican candidates unless they actually register as a Republican.

Fortunately, there is still time for voters to get their registration in order.

Feb. 18 is the deadline to register to vote in the Primary. In addition to the presidential race, Golden State voters will also weigh in on the primaries for all 53 of California’s seats in the House of Representatives, 80 state assembly seats, 20 state senate seats, and the statewide Proposition 13, which authorizes bond sales to fund school construction and modernization.

The ‘Jungle’ Primary

According to the Los Angeles Times, a conspiracy theory is taking root on social media claiming there is a plot to keep Californians from voting red this primary season. That’s because millions of independent voters will receive ballots with no Republican choices for president. But it’s no sinister plot. The state’s Republican party made its own rules, and the party decided voters with no party affiliation wouldn’t be allowed to vote in the Republican primary. That stands in contrast to the Democratic party, which opted to open its primary race to all “no party” voters.

According to the Times, that leaves 5.4 million independent voters in California barred from casting primary ballots for a Republican. Click here to check status of your voter registration. Click here to register to vote.

Among the handful of American Independent candidates on the ballot, voters may recognize the name Don Blankenship, the former CEO of Massey Energy who was incarcerated in a California prison for violating safety regulations after an explosion at a company coal mine killed 29 people.

Another memorable name on the American Independent ballot is Phil Collins, not to be confused with the famed singer for the rock band Genesis. This Phil Collins was nominated by the Prohibition National Committee, the anti-liquor party that had its heyday a century ago.

The Polls

The Democratic primary remains wide open in California, and Sen. Bernie Sanders and Former Vice President Joe Biden have been trading leads among the state’s voters all week. As of Friday, the pollsters at FiveThirtyEight have Biden and Sanders tied with 24% of the California vote followed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren at 18%, Pete Buttigieg at 7%, and Michael Bloomberg at almost 6% and Andrew Yang at nearly 5%.

Key Dates

• Your deadline to register to vote is Feb. 18. You can register to vote here.
• Your vote by mail request must be postmarked by Feb. 25. You can apply here to vote by mail.
• Primary Election Day is March 3, and the polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. You can find your polling place through your county's elections website.
• Vote-by-mail ballots must be postmarked by March 3, and received no later than March 6.