In this installment of our June 8 election articles, we address the issue of party affiliation—what it means, how to change it, and how to get the most flexibility at the polling place. We discussed the issue of DTS voters, aka Decline to State voters, with the OC Registrar of Voters.
If it has been a while since you last registered to vote, you might not remember with which party you are currently registered. The way to check this is by calling the Orange County Registrar of Voters office at 714 567-7600, Monday through Friday, 8:00 am-5:00 PM. You can find out if you are registered to vote by checking their website, but to get the party affiliation, you need to phone them.
It’s been many years since I last registered to vote, so I wasn’t sure which party I was registered with. I decided to check it out. What a surprise—it seems my political orientation has changed from one far side of the spectrum to nearly the opposite side.
If you are registered with a specific party and you want to change it, the forms are available on the web site. The forms can be filled out on line, but you must mail in the hard copy to make the change effective. Changing your registration is the same as re-registering. The same form is used to change party and to register for the first time. The new forms must be received by the Registrar no later than 15 days before the election.
One alternative to party affiliation is to register as DTS. If filling out the form online, there is a box to check if you do not want to state your party affiliation. If the form is filled out by hand, just write “None”, or “No party” in the box where it asks for the party. Once the form is received and processed, you will be a DTS voter.
When arriving at the polling place on June 8, voters who are registered as DTS have the opportunity to select the party ballot they want to use. Orange County Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley told www.OC180NEWS.com “You may say this is my philosophy, this is what I believe in, so I’m going to be affiliated with a party, but if you want to be more independent, decline to state gives you more options.”
The actual choices for DTS voters depend on what the parties decide. The parties can elect to include DTS voters or not, it’s up to the parties, and, they can change this decision at each election. Kelley said “This is not a full open primary like some states have. This is modified open, which means if the party allows you to “opt in”, then you’re good.”
However, Kelley explained there is one exception to this flexibility. The ability for DTS voters to “opt in” to either the Democrat or Republican ballots does not apply to voting for Central committee members. The only way voters can participate in that part of the election is to register with one of the parties.
For the June 8 primary, the Democratic and Republican parties both decided to allow DTS voters to “opt in”. None of the other parties did. Thus, if you want to vote on the primary ballot for any of the other parties, you must first register for that party.
For DTS candidate’s undecided between Democrats and Republicans, they can wait until they get to the polls on Election Day to make that selection. However, for a voter who is registered as Democrat and decides they want to vote in the Republican primary (or vice-a-versa), if the voters don’t change their affiliation to DTS at least 15 days before the election, they will not be allowed to make the switch at the polls.
On Tuesday, The Orange County Registrar of Voters issued a statement which indicated Permanent vote-by-mail voters who are also DTS, have been mailed a postcard (pink in color) asking them to select the Democrat, Republican, or a nonpartisan sample ballot. In addition, DTS voters who apply for a one-time vote-by-mail ballot will have the option to make the same selection, or can do so at their poll site. If you do not request a party ballot, you will be given a nonpartisan ballot, containing only the names of all candidates for nonpartisan offices and measures to be voted upon at the primary election.
For DTS voters, the sample ballot you receive in the mail does not obligate you to vote on that ballot. If you return the post card and select Republican, you can still change your mind at the polls and request the Democrat ballot. If you don’t return the post card and the Registrar mails you a nonpartisan sample ballot, or if you request a Democrat sample ballot, you can still read the other sample ballots on the web site. Then, when you get to the polls on June 8, you can request a Democrat, Republican, or nonpartisan ballot. If you are not registered as DTS, you will not have this option on June 8.
Click here to go to the vote page of the Registrar’s web site.
http://www.ocvote.com/vote/voteenglish.htm
