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Every 4 years, Americans cast their vote for President. The nominees for President and Vice-President are chosen by political parties. Political parties have varied state rules on how to choose their nominees; for example, whether to hold a primary or a caucus, how to apportion votes (winner take all versus proportional), etc. They can be complex events, and so it is important for voters to know what to do in order to participate in a presidential primary election.
California conducts modified closed presidential primaries. That means that, in general, voters can participate in the primary on the condition that the voter is registered with the party for whom they support as their nominee. In other words, Republicans vote in the Republican Primary, Democrats vote in the Democratic Primary, etc. If you want to vote in the primary, you must declare a party preference.
There are currently 6 certified political parties in California that will have a presidential primary:
- American Independent Party
- Democratic Party
- Green Party
- Libertarian Party
- Peace & Freedom Party
- Republican Party
However, some--but not all--political parties choose to allow No Party Preference (NPP) voters to participate in their primary without having to re-register. That is what's referred to as a "crossover." If you are not registered with one of the certified political parties, that means that the state election laws consider you to be a NPP voter and you will be given the option to crossover. Think of it as being an invited guest to a holiday party--accepting an invitation doesn't mean that you're living at the host's house.
Every presidential election cycle, the political parties will notify the Secretary of State as to whether they will allow crossover voting. Counties will then notify voters as to which parties allow crossovers as the presidential primary election draws near.
If you are a NPP voter, you have 3 choices for how to participate in the March 5, 2024 Presidential Primary Election:
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Request a crossover. The American Independent Party, Democratic Party, and Libertarian Party will allow NPP voters to request a crossover without the need to re-register to vote.
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Re-register. Do this if you are a NPP or have another party affiliation and want to participate in the Green Party, Peace & Freedom Party, or Republican Party's primary.
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Do nothing. You will be provided a ballot with no presidential candidates on it, but every other contest will be available to you to vote on.
No matter how you decide to participate in the presidential primary, everyone will be able to vote for President and Vice-President in the November General Election.
Did You Know?
For a short period of time, California had an open (“blanket”) primary. An open primary system allows all voters to cast a ballot for presidential nominees, regardless of their stated party affiliation. The open primary law was authorized in March 1996 via the passage of Proposition 198.
However, four years later the United States Supreme Court struck down California’s blanket primary law.
In California Democratic Party v. Jones, 530 US 567 (2000), a case brought against the California Secretary of State by four political parties, the Court held that Proposition 198 violated the First Amendment right to free association. Justice Scalia wrote, “the First Amendment protects “the freedom to join together in furtherance of common political beliefs”...which “necessarily presupposes the freedom to identify the people who constitute the association, and to limit the association to those people only.”” Jones at 574.
This freedom to choose leaders of an association like a political party is one of the reasons why California’s elections officials must get formal notice of which parties will invite No Party Preference voters to “crossover,” and why NPP ballots have no presidential candidates on them.
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