California Voter Registration

[Brian4Liberty]

Important news about the California Presidential Primary elections in February:

According to the current rules set by the California Republican party, only registered Republicans can vote in the California Republican Presidential Primary Race. If you want to vote for Ron Paul in California, you must be registered as a Republican in California before the Primary.


Background:

The reason this is an issue in California is that we currently have a "Modified Closed Primary System". It used to be an "Open Primary" system. There have been changes over the years to these systems.

This has created much confusion among California voters.

Many California residents believe that if they register as "Decline to State", they can vote in any Party. Some people believe that if they are registered in one Party, that they can request (and vote) on a different parties ballot. This is not always true.

In the upcoming February California Primary Election, only those registered as Republicans will be able to vote for Ron Paul.

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To register to vote in California:

http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_vr.htm

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References:

http://www.cagop.org/index.cfm/about_party_bylaws.htm

CA GOP (CRP) Bylaws, in Article VI, Section 6.01(A) states:

"The selection of Presidential Nominating Convention Delegates to the Republican National Convention...shall be chosen by the Presidential Candidate who obtained the plurality of Republican votes within each Congressional District."


http://ca.lwv.org/lwvc/edfund/elections/e3primary.html

League of Women Voters of California website:

"The Democratic Party and the Republican party will not permit unaffiliated voters to vote for their county central committees. Also, the Republican Party will not let unaffiliated voters select a presidential candidate."


http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070310/news_1n10primary.html

From a San Diego Newspaper Article:

"...a Republican Party bylaw restricts the selection of national convention delegates, which is actually what are chosen in presidential primaries, to registered party members.

The next opportunity for consideration of a bylaw change is the California Republican Party's statewide convention in September, three months after the deadline for state parties to submit their delegate-selection rules to the Republican National Committee."

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And via phone, the CA Rep Party stated that only registered Republicans will be able to vote in the upcoming Presidential Primary.

 

[jpa]

I also wanted to say that California republican primary is not a "winner take all" state. You get delegates county by county.

A 2nd place finish in CA could be more delegates for RP than NH, SC, and Iowa combined.

With the War & Immigration issues out here, it is definitely possible for Ron Paul to win here...

 

[Man from La Mancha]

That was easy, I just registered

 

[Lord Xar]

Can someone find out about this, I know there was another post indicating that we should do things ourselves - but I am at work..... seriously.

I was told that you have to send in $25 and that signing up online will not get you a vote??

 

[jpa]

the online form sends you the voter registration form via postal mail, that you sign and send back in. You can't register to vote 100% online.

There is no $25 charge that I am aware of.

 

[Lord Xar]

ok.. I will post this then to my Los Angeles meetup group.

 

[klamath]

I also wanted to say that California republican primary is not a "winner take all" state. You get delegates county by county.

A 2nd place finish in CA could be more delegates for RP than NH, SC, and Iowa combined.

With the War & Immigration issues out here, it is definitely possible for Ron Paul to win here...

When did this change? It always used to be in the past

 

[berkeleybound]

If you are not registered with the Republican Party, you might not be able to vote for Dr. Paul in the primary election. The highlighted states require you to register Republican to vote in the Republican primary. http://www.fairvote.org/?page=1801


Information on voter registration is available from your state election board, and is also compiled at the following websites:
http://www.usayfoundation.org
http://www.DeclareYourself.com

Vote for Paul on your state's date or request an absentee ballot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_(United_States)_presidential_primaries,_2008

 

[Brian4Liberty]

When did this change? It always used to be in the past

The California GOP (CRP) bylaws were last ammended Feb 11, 2007. I assume that is when the last section about "Selection of Presidential Nominating Convention Delegates" was added.

Due to changes and court battles about "open" Primaries in California, the upcoming Primary is the first time that a Presidential Primary has been an important issue to the GOP in terms of non-Republicans possibly influencing the campaign. During the last Presidential Primary election there was no competition for Bush, so the CRP didn't take any action then.

The removal of "winner take all" was probably a type of compromise, since many people were tired of that ("winner take all" elections get decided by the Los Angeles metro area!). It should bring more candidates to California, as they have a chance of getting some delegates. And luckily for us, that means Ron Paul has a good chance of getting some!

 

[Nash]

California voters voted to get an open primary a few years ago but it was overturned by the courts as unconstitutional (in violation of the state constitution).

They overturn a lot of stuff here that people vote for.

There are two main issues that republican voters care about in California. 1) Taxes 2) Illegal Immigration.

Because of this the candidates who I believe are going to get delegates aside from Paul are going be Ghouliani, Fred Thompson, Tancredo and Hunter.

If Tancredo and Hunter drop out I think those votes go to either Fred Thompson or Paul.

Tancredo and Hunter are pretty popular here, at least in Southern California. Hunter is from San Diego so has a big base down there. Tancredo is considered the "other candidate against illegal immigration". I expect Ghouliani to lock up most of the cities (Los Angeles and the few Repubs in San Francisco). Thompson will probably do well throughout the rest of the state along with Paul.

Romney and McCain are likely going to be overshadowed by the Gholiani support and Brownback, Huckabee and T Thompson are total non-factors. The Christian Conservative base is basically non-existent in this state so I can't imagine these candidates doing well.

I've sent an email to Tom McClintock http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOM_MCCLINTOCK regarding Paul's candidacy and asking him for his endorsement. He's the second most powerful Republican figure in the state next to Arnold and his voting record is almost identical to Paul's. He's known as the "real conservative" and has run for state office numerous times. He almost won as candidate for LT Governor last year and considering his voting record in a state this liberal that is extremely impressive.

McClintock's success in this state is what gives me hope that Paul can get a large number of delegates here, however I really think Paul needs to focus on the immigration issue more if he ever comes out here because I think he can easily wrest away support from Hunter and Tancredo if he was more vocal about it. The fact they have any kind of support in this state shows you how important the immigration issue is in California.

 

[Lord Xar]

I agree... california is being know as mexifornia.... so Ron Paul really needs to come out and get heard hear regarding his Illegal Immigration stance.

I am not really sure why his people are sorta glossying over this.. but I feel he needs to deal with this.. as Tancredo has already been given TWO Los Angeles times write ups... I have yet to hear mention of Paul... So, that shows you that Tancredo IS popular here... so Paul has come out more on his illegal immigration stance be firm and direct about it.. he speaks well, so he should really 'talk' about it and its solutions.. and for him to mention that AIR and ARMY national guard will need to be down there... When he says "the militias"... people don't know what that is.. and they think "minutemen" and then they think... we don't vigilantes down there (I agree with the minutemen), - just saysing what 'normal' people will think.. he needs to say..

I think we need to get that wall build and put our AIR and ARMY national guard down there..... etc..

 

[Bradley in DC]

I also wanted to say that California republican primary is not a "winner take all" state. You get delegates county by county.

A 2nd place finish in CA could be more delegates for RP than NH, SC, and Iowa combined.

With the War & Immigration issues out here, it is definitely possible for Ron Paul to win here...

No, not exactly. California (at least in 2004, and please let me know if it's changed) allocated its delegates winner-take-all by CD (Congressional District) and AL (At-Large). Under RNC by-laws, each CD around the country gets three delegates to the national presidential nominating convention. Additional delegates are awarded to states under more complicated formulae.