As the election season is heating up, California is preparing for its state primary on June 7. A primary is a state-level election where party members vote to choose a candidate affiliated with their political party.

California’s primary election is an indirect election. Instead of voters directly selecting a candidate running for President, it determines how many delegates to each party’s national convention the candidate will receive from that state.
California has a modified closed primary, a primary election that allows political parties to decide whether they permit independents to vote in their primaries and for which offices.

If you’re registered with a particular political party, you can only vote for candidates in that party. In California, No Party Preference (NPP) voters will receive a default non-partisan ballot with no presidential candidates listed. But with the modified portion of the primary, NPP voters have the option to request a presidential ballot of either the Democratic Party, the American Independent Party or the Libertarian Party, but not the Republican Party.

To vote for the Republican, Green, Peace and Freedom parties voters must re-register. To register, re-register or locate a precinct visit LAVote.net. Deadline to register as an official voter is May 23.

The ballot will feature: The presidential election, United States Senate, California State Assembly District 43 and several ballot measures.
The presidential nominee for the republican party is real estate mogul, Donald J. Trump. The democratic party includes former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The ballot for the U.S. Senate will feature 34 candidates.

The Los Angeles County falls under assembly district 43, current assemblyman Mike Gatto will step down. But eight candidates are in the race for the seat. Democrats include Andrew J. Blumenfeld, Dennis R. Bullock, Rajiv Dalal, Laura Friedman, Ardy Kassakhian. Republicans have Alexandra A. Bustamante, Mark MacCarley, and American Independent Aaron Cervantes.

A ballot measure is a piece of proposed legislation to be approved or rejected by eligible voters. Voters have an opportunity to vote on two proposed legislations.
Proposition 50 is a measure that amends the State Constitution to add new provisions regarding the suspension of legislators. In 2014, three California state Senators were accused of felonies and their fellow state Senators voted to suspend them. The state Constitution has rules for how to expel state lawmakers for wrongdoing but no rules to suspend them for a limited period of time. The accused lawmakers were not allowed to vote on laws, but still received their salaries and benefits.

Should the state Constitution be amended to authorize the Legislature to suspend its members, with or without salary and benefits?

Proposal: The Constitution would be amended to authorize the suspension of a member of a house of the Legislature, with or without salary and benefits, by a 2/3 vote of the members of that house. The reasons for the suspension and rules for when the suspension would end would have to be set forth. The rules would require that either the suspension end on a specific date, or that a vote be taken in the future to end it. (via votersedge.org)

Measure N states that “Shall the City’s longstanding utility users tax (UUT) be repealed, eliminating approximately 9.5% of the revenues in the City’s general fund annually ($17.5 million this year) that is used to pay for city services such as police, fire, 9-1-1 emergency response, libraries, parks and senior services?”

(Taken from sample ballot.)

A no vote would preserve Glendale’s $17.5 million for fiscal year 2015-16 and annually thereafter, in UUT funding that has been in place since 1969. This would maintain current 9-1-1 emergency response times, police patrols and investigations, on-duty firefighters and other services.

Passage of the initiative proposing to eliminate Glendale’s UUT finding would cut $17.5 million from public services and result in increased 9-1-1 emergency response times, the elimination of over 50 police officers and nearly 40 firefighters, the closure of the equivalent of two fire stations. (via Glendalevotes.org)