[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Secretary of State Debra Bowen just put out this statement on decline-to-state voters:

"Under California law, each political party decides whether to allow DTS voters to participate in their presidential primaries," said Secretary Bowen, the state's top elections officer. "In this particular election, two of the six political parties are allowing DTS voters to request their parties' ballots: the Democratic and American Independent parties."

The Secretary of State's Voter Hotline has received several dozen calls from DTS voters around the state reporting some county poll workers have not been fully aware of DTS voter rights.

"If a DTS voter does not specifically ask for one party's ballot at the polls, he or she will be given a non-partisan ballot containing the seven statewide ballot measures, but no presidential candidate names," Secretary Bowen added. "Voters who have any questions about their rights should call our toll-free Voter Hotline at (800) 345-VOTE."

by Bob Brigham [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

The biggest story of the day is the meltdown with DTS voters in LA. It is so bad that the Obama campaign had to drop an "URGENT" email with phone numbers for their Election Protection lawyers (while Hillary's campaign is issuing statements that there is nothing to be seen, move along...these are not the droids your looking for). But that isn't the only place, the huge DTS surge for Democrats has hit Silicon Valley with another problem. From the Registrar (pdf, h/t to Silence in the comments):

Due to higher-than-expected turnout in today's Presidential Primary Election, the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters is implementing backup voting procedures to help mitigate potential ballot shortages. The shortage is largely attributed to an unanticipated surge in the number of Decline-to-State (nonpartisan) voters who are choosing to vote a Democratic Party ballot.

Can't quite see how this was "unanticipated" but it is clear that there are lots of people in full C.Y.A. mode today. How are they dealing with it? BYOB, of course!

by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by California Democratic Party [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Cross posted on Daily Kos

On Monday, the California Democratic Party will send its latest message to Independent (Decline to State) voters notifying them that they are eligible to vote for the Democratic candidates in Tuesday's presidential primary.  Two separate emails will be sent to approximately 195,000 DTS voters.

One email will go to regular DTS voters and explain the process for obtaining a Democratic ballot at their polling place.  The other email will be sent to DTS Permanent Absentee Voters, letting them know that if they have a non-partisan ballot that they haven't yet returned, they can take it to their polling place and exchange it for a Democratic ballot.

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]