California Primary Mail-in Ballots Arrive This Coming Week
Primary election day is June 5 in California and local communities. But balloting actually begins May 7 — this Monday. That’s the start of voting by mail.
For people who have avoided thinking about politics for as long as they could, time’s up. Here’s a refresher about what’s at stake in the next month.
In this election between presidential elections, voters here will begin to decide who leads California, with primaries to select the two candidates to advance to the Nov. 6 general elections in races for governor, seven other statewide offices, every Assembly seat and half of the state Senate, and the state Board of Equalization. They’ll also begin to choose California’s representatives in Washington, D.C., with a U.S. Senate seat and all U.S. House seats in play. And they’ll start to select who’ll hold many municipal offices and judgeships.
Some themes will be pervasive.
The #MeToo movement, which hangs over several races for the state Legislature in Los Angeles County, has brought out a record number of women candidates, hoping to increase their numbers in Sacramento and Washington. Also, young voters — many who registered during pro gun control marches related to the Parkland shooting — are expected to turn out in higher numbers than usual, even as 84-year-old U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein seeks her sixth six-year term. And the partisan battle for control of the U.S. House, with Democrats targeting at least a half-dozen Republican-held seats in California, could energize voters of all stripes.
Donald Trump isn’t on any ballot — or you could say he’s on almost every ballot as Democratic candidates play up their opposition to the president whose record-low approval percentages nationally are even lower in California’s major cities.
“A lot of them [the elections] are about Trump, and the divisions that are so raw in this country among people who follow politics,” said Jaime Regalado, professor emeritus of political science at Cal State Los Angeles. “This doesn’t mean we’ll get record [voter] turnout, but there is a heightened sense that these elections matter.”
www.dailynews.com/2018/05/04/mail-in-primary-ballots-arrive-this-week-heres-whats-happening/
