Primary considerations

Butte County’s clerk-recorder and registrar of voters, Candace Grubbs, wants voters to know the rules about the upcoming June 3 state primary election.

Only three—Democratic, Republican and American Independent—of the six qualified parties allow nonpartisan (independent or “decline to state”) voters to cast ballots in their primaries.

Grubbs’ office has mailed postcards to vote-by-mail independents in the county; if they want to cross over and vote one of the party ballots, they should request a party ballot. All other nonpartisan voters who would like to vote by mail may indicate their choice by filling out the application on the back of their Sample Ballot packet. If voting at the polls, they must inform a precinct worker of their choice.

Without a presidential primary to attract voters, the June 3 primary is predicted to have a lackluster turnout. Ironically, had the presidential primary not been moved up to Feb. 5, the California vote could have been the deciding event in the marathon Obama-Clinton race.