‘No Party Preference’ voters may need to re-register to cast vote for president

By Anne Ternus-Bellamy McNaughton Media Yolo County voters who believe they mistakenly received a notice in the mail from the county election office indicating their options for voting in the March 3 presidential primary election as a “No Party Preference” voter may need to re-register in their party of choice or request a crossover ballot. The Yolo County Elections Office recently sent out postcards to voters registered as “No Party Preference,” or NPP. Some voters who received the postcard questioned whether it was authentic because they did not recall registering as NPP. Voters may have unknowingly had their party registration changed to “No Party Preference” as a result of automatic voter registration through the Department of Motor Vehicles, the elections office said Friday. Voters who believe they are impacted are encouraged to re-register to vote to make sure that their records are up to date before the March 2020 primary. “We want to inform our voters that if you received this No Party Preference (NPP) postcard and would like to vote for a presidential candidate this March, you need to take action to either request a crossover ballot or re-register with your preferred party,” said Jesse Salinas, Yolo County’s clerk-recorder/assessor/registrar of voters. The specific action needed by NPP voters will depend on the party of their preferred presidential candidate. The NPP postcards that were mailed out, which are required by the California Elections Code, outlined what steps are needed to cast a crossover vote in the March 2020 Presidential contest. The only parties allowing crossover voting for the March 2020 Presidential Primary are the American Independent, Democratic and Libertarian parties. NPP voters who wish to cast a ballot in the presidential primary for any of those parties may request a crossover ballot. Voters registered as “No Party Preference” that do not request a crossover ballot will receive a ballot that does not include candidates for president. The Green, Peace & Freedom and Republican parties opted to not allow crossover voting. NPP voters wishing to vote for those parties must re-register with that party. Voters may check their registration status online at https://voterstatus.sos.ca.gov/ and re-register online at registertovote.ca.gov. Regular registration for the 2020 March Presidential Primary Election ends Feb. 18. After that, voters may register or re-register at the county elections office in Woodland and vote using the Conditional Voter Registration process. There will also be a satellite office located at the UC Davis campus on Election Day where voters will be able to register and vote using the Conditional Voter Registration process. However, if you need to re-register, the election office encourages you to do so prior to Feb. 18. For more information on crossover voting, visit https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voting-info/how-vote-president/?#* To contact the Yolo County Elections Office, visit https://yoloelections.org or call 530-666-8133. The office is located in the county administration building at 625 Court St., Room B-05, in Woodland.]]>