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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECLINE-TO-STATE VOTER INFORMATION FOR THE FEBRUARY 5, 2008 CONSOLIDATEDPRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY ELECTION
SAN FRANCISCO, January 31, 2008 – The February 5, 2008 election is a modified closed presidential primary. In this type of election, a voter who has registered with a particular political party may vote only for candidates from that party. Voters who declined to state an affiliation with a political party at the time of registration (decline-to-state voters) may request a ballot from either of the two parties that allow decline-to-state voters to vote their party’s ballot in this election. All registered voters, regardless of party affiliation, may vote for or against ballot measures.
The two political parties that will allow decline-to-state voters to vote their party’s ballot in this election are:
The American Independent Party
The Democratic Party
Decline-to-state voters voting at a polling place, who wish to receive a ballot from one of the parties listed above, must request that ballot from a pollworker when signing the roster on Election Day. Voters will be given a card at their polling place with the following information:
BALLOT CHOICE FOR NONPARTISAN VOTERS
On your voter registration form, you marked "I decline to state a political party." As a Decline-to-State (DTS) or nonpartisan (NP) voter, you may vote a nonpartisan ballot with only City and
State propositions -OR- you may request either an American Independent or a Democratic
Party ballot. In this primary, these two parties allow nonpartisan voters to vote a party ballot.
Each party ballot has the party’s presidential candidates and the City and State propositions.
Please show your ballot choice to the Clerk:
NP (propositions only)
DTS-American Independent
DTS-Democratic
Please note that under state law, when a decline-to-state voter chooses an American Independent or Democratic Party ballot, this choice must be noted in the roster of voters and becomes part of the public record.
Decline-to-State voters, who may have requested a vote-by-mail ballot, have the option of surrendering their ballot at a polling place on Election Day or can bring their ballot to the Department of Elections to obtain a ballot from one of the two parties allowing the crossover.
Decline-to-state voters who do not request a specific party ballot will be given a nonpartisan ballot containing only the measures to be voted on.
Voters may determine their party registration, by looking at the box containing their polling place address on the back cover of their Voter Information Pamphlet or by calling the Department of Elections. The party with which voters are registered is identified by one of the codes listed below on the back of their Voter Information Pamphlet:
AIP-3 American Independent Party
DEM-1 Democratic Party
GRN-4 Green Party
LIB-5 Libertarian Party
P&F-6 Peace and Freedom Party
REP-2 Republican Party
NP-0 Decline to state a party affiliation (DTS) / Nonpartisan
The Department will be open this weekend, February 2nd and 3rd, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for those voters who may want to vote early or for those voters would like to get another ballot if they are registered as Decline-to-State.
To find out more about Vote-by-Mail voting, what’s on the ballot, ranked-choice voting, multilingual voter services, the Department’s Inmate Voting program, or how to find your polling place please contact the Department of Elections at (415) 554-4375 or visit www.sfgov.org/election.
Please call our Department at (415) 554-4367 for assistance in Chinese or call (415) 554-4366 for assistance in Spanish.
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