Election NewsClicks
Behind the Scenes
of Orange County Elections
March 16, 2016 - In the last few days we have mailed postcards to voters who have listed their party preference as decline to state, or No Party Preference (which means they are not affiliated with any political party). In particular these postcards, bright pink in color, have been mailed to hundreds of thousands of permanent vote-by-mail voters giving them the option of choosing a specific ballot for the June Primary election.
In a presidential primary election non-affiliated voters can vote a partisan ballot at a primary election. But there's a catch - each political party must opt-in and allow these voters to vote their party ballot. For the 2016 June Primary only three political parties are allowing this - the Democratic Party, the American Independent Party and the Libertarian Party. This means that NPP voters who want to vote for a candidate in another party (such as the Republican Party) would have to change their party affiliation or choose to vote a strictly non-partisan ballot.
Still have questions? We have set up detailed FAQ pages, which you can find by clicking here. Or you can check out our NewsClicks video short on the subject.
