80th Assembly District Voters Have Until Monday To Register

SAN DIEGO, CA — The San Diego County Registrar of Voters office is reminding residents in the 80th Assembly District that they can still register to vote in the April 5 Special Primary Election through Monday and receive a ballot in the mail.

After Monday, if you would still like to vote, you will need to make a trip in person to the registrar's office in Kearny Mesa or visit a vote center to conditionally register and vote provisionally through Election Day.

Only those who live in the state's 80th Assembly District under the 2011 district boundaries can vote in the election -- which seeks to fill Former Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez's seat for the remainder of the current term ending in December. Even though recent redistricting changed Assembly district borders, the boundaries used when the term began will determine who can vote to fill the seat to complete the Gonzalez' term.

The district covers portions of southern San Diego County and includes parts of the cities of Chula Vista, National City and San Diego. If you're not sure whether you were in the 2011 district boundary, you can look it up at sdvote.com.

The candidates for the district are two Democrats -- David Alvarez and Georgette Gomez -- and Republican Lincoln Pickard.

Gonzalez resigned in January to take a leadership position at the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO. She represented the district for eight years.

This will be the first special election conducted under the Voter's Choice Act. Under the act, every active registered voter -- more than 250,000 in the district -- has automatically received a ballot in the mail.

Eligible voters can vote from home and return ballots through the mail -- no postage needed -- or to one of the registrar's official ballot drop- box locations, or at any vote center in the district.

Some ballot drop-box locations and the Registrar of Voters office will be closed on March 31 in observance of Cesar Chavez Day.

Starting March 26, five vote centers will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Election Day, April 5, when nine vote centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Residents can find a ballot drop box or vote center location inside the official ballot packet, in the voter information pamphlet or online at sdvote.com.

—City News Service