January 10, 2024
Dear San Francisco Voter,
A trusted source of information for all San Francisco voters regarding the March 5, 2024, Presidential Primary Election is this Voter Information Pamphlet (VIP). Reviewing the VIP allows voters to determine whether their ballots will include candidates for president and the options available to obtain ballots that list presidential candidates. The VIP also provides useful guidance for considering how to vote on the local ballot measures.
Information on Voting for Candidates for President
Your voter registration record determines whether your ballot will include candidates for president. If your registration record includes a preference for a qualified political party, your ballot will list that party’s candidates for president. If you declined to state a preference for a political party, your ballot will not show candidates for president.
Voters can update their registration record online at registertovote.ca.gov or with a paper form to select a preference for a political party and receive a ballot with that party’s candidates for president.
Voters with no party preference have additional options to receive ballots listing candidates for president for either the American Independent, Democratic, or Libertarian parties. Voters need to request what is often called a “cross-over ballot” from the Department. The VIP includes details on voters’ options to receive a cross-over ballot, as does the Department’s website at sfelections.org/primary.
Regardless of your party preference, your ballot will list contests for U.S. Senator, U.S. Representative, State Senator, State Assembly Member, Judges of the Superior Court, and state and local measures.
Information on Local Measures
Digests, or short summaries, of each local ballot appear in sections specific to each measure. The digests are reviewed and approved by a group named the Ballot Simplification Committee. The Committee is a panel of volunteers with professional writing or teaching experience who must use language that is clearly stated and impartial.
Each VIP also includes the legislative or legal text associated with each local measure. This means voters can read for themselves how the measures would change local laws if the measures receive the necessary number of votes.
The VIP also includes “arguments” authored by other San Francisco voters and organizations. Each measure allows for one official supporting argument and one official opposing argument, with accompanying rebuttal arguments. The VIP also includes “paid arguments” which any San Francisco voter can submit for publication for and against local measures when paying specified fees.
Information on Candidates
You can review candidate qualification statements printed in the VIP that most federal, state, and judicial candidates submitted directly to the Department. However, the VIP does not provide qualification statements from candidates for county central committees. Seats on the committees are not considered elective offices and instead determine the leadership of political parties on a local level.
Information on Voting
The Department’s website provides voters with reliable information on voting. To learn more about voting in this upcoming primary election, visit sfelections.org/primary. Our website also provides a tool called the “Voter Portal” that guides voters with an easy way to check their party preference, the status of your vote-by-mail ballot, the location of your polling place and ballot drop-off boxes, and much more election information can be found at sfelections.org/voterportal.
You can also email us at sfvote@sfgov.org, or call us at (415) 554-4375. If you write or call, someone from the Department will be personally attentive to your questions and concerns. Our personnel are ready to answer your questions and provide election-related information in English, Chinese, Spanish, and Filipino, as well as in hundreds of other languages via a telephone translation service.
Everyone in the Department is looking forward to providing you with the support and information you need to successfully participate in the upcoming March 5, 2024, Presidential Primary Election!
Respectfully,
John Arntz, Director