SANTA ANA, CA – December 16, 2024 – Persons living in the 36th State Senate District interested in being a candidate to fill the vacant State Senate office can seek to qualify for the ballot from Thursday, December 19, 2024 through Thursday, January 2, 2025. 

Residents of the portion of the 36th State Senate District in Orange County can pull and file a declaration of candidacy and other filing documents at the Orange County Registrar of Voters in Santa Ana. Los Angeles County residents of the District must file at the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk in Norwalk. 

The 36th State Senate District includes all Orange County cities along the coast from San Clemente to Seal Beach as well as all or portions of the cities of Buena Park, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Stanton, and Westminster. In Los Angeles County, the District includes Artesia, Cerritos and Hawaiian Gardens. 

Orange County citizens can confirm whether they reside in the 36th State Senate District by using the Find My District mapping tool on the Registrar of Voters website at ocvote.gov/findmydistrict. 

The State Senate District 36 Special Primary Election will be held on Tuesday, February 25, 2025.  

Starting Thursday, December 19, 2024, Orange County residents interested in running for the 36th State Senate District office can begin the candidate filing process online or at the Registrar of Voters. 

To qualify for the office of Member of the State Senate, 36th District, a candidate must: 

• Be a registered voter in the district and otherwise qualified to vote for that office at the time Nomination Papers are issued to the person 

• Be a United States citizen and a resident of California 

• Not have served more than 12 years in the State Senate, the Assembly, or both, in any combination of terms, if he or she was first elected to the Legislature after June of 2012 and has not previously served in the State Senate or Assembly, during his or her lifetime; 

• Not have been convicted of a felony involving accepting or giving, or offering to give, any bribe, the embezzlement of public money, extortion or theft of public money, perjury, or conspiracy to commit any of those crimes.  

Note: Members of the State Senate or Assembly who were elected before June 2012 may serve only the number of terms allowed at the time of the last election before June 2012. 

Eligible citizens can download many of the required candidacy documents by using the Registrar of Voters’ Candidate Filing Portal on our website (ocvote.gov/candidates), prior to filing the documents at the Registrar of Voters.  

The Registrar of Voters also issues candidacy documents at its office, 1300 S. Grand Ave., Building C in Santa Ana, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The office will be closed on December 25, 2024 and January 1, 2025. 

Candidates must file their completed forms in that office no later than 5 p.m. on Thursday, January 2, 2025. 

The Registrar of Voters also provides a detailed Candidate’s Handbook with information about the candidate filing process on our website. 

For more information about this election, visit ocvote.gov or call (714) 567-7600.