Primary Elections

Register by Feb. 7 to vote in the California primary on March 7! Be sure that you are registered in the party of the candidate for whom you are voting. Otherwise your vote will be a straw vote and will not count for the convention delegates whose vote will nominate each party's candidate. Yes, we have an open primary and you may cross party lines, but if you want your candidate nominated, register in that party. You can change back after the primary to your "home" status. BOBBI COX Laguna Beach Here is a suggestion that would equalize the vote of every registered voter in the primary elections: Hold all the state primaries on the same day and have the person in each party who comes in second be the vice president candidate.

One of the candidates who ran for city treasurer in Compton's primary election has filed a lawsuit seeking to contest last month's election results. Jasper Jackson petitioned the court to halt incumbent Douglas Sanders from assuming office due to alleged voter fraud. In the 10-page complaint filed last week, Jackson contends that "Compton City Clerk Alita Godwin and others have conspired, aided, abetted in the suppression, non-collection, destruction of relevant evidence and election materials concerning the April 16, 2013, election, under a variety of pretenses.

Hours: Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. Where to vote: 1,613 neighborhood polling places or the Orange County Registrar of Voters office, 1300 S. Grand Ave., Santa Ana. ON THE BALLOT * Candidates to run in November general election for offices, including president and congressional and legislative seats. * Nonpartisan offices, including two county supervisor seats, several judgeships, and city and school board races.

Final results from Compton's primary election released Thursday showed longtime Mayor Eric Perrodin ousted and political newcomer Aja Brown headed for a runoff with former Mayor Omar Bradley, who is facing a corruption trial. Incumbent Perrodin, the city's longest-serving mayor, trailed in third place. A deputy district attorney and former Compton police officer, Perrodin ran on a reform platform in the 2001 election in which he defeated Bradley. Perrodin got praise for bringing businesses such as Starbucks and Home Depot to the city, but he came under fire over city contracts that went to friends and family members, absenteeism from meetings and, most recently, a $40-million budget deficit.

Pressures are building on Honduras' unpredictable President Roberto Suazo Cordova to ease his grip on the country's electoral machinery and end a political crisis. Spokesmen for the country's labor movement are calling for primary elections before November's presidential election and have threatened a general strike if their demand is not heeded. High military officials are known to have counseled Suazo to listen to the workers.

Monday is the last day to register for the upcoming primary election in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Los Angeles Community College district. The election will take place April 13. New voters, including new citizens, must be at least 18 years old by election day to be eligible for registration. Voters who are already registered must re-register if there has been a change in address or name.

Three unsuccessful Republican candidates for state Assembly who had hoped for a speedy challenge of the March open primary are making an unexpected detour into federal court. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month that California's open primary was unconstitutional, the three candidates--Jim Righeimer and Bruce Matthias of Orange County and Robert S.

(As a general policy, The Times does not usually endorse candidates in partisan primary elections. We will, however, express a preference in most contests before the November general election.) Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors 2nd District--Kenneth Hahn 4th District--Deane Dana 5th District--Don Wallace District Attorney: Ira Reiner Judges of the Superior Court Office No. 1--Jerold A. Krieger Office No. 3--Jewell (Judi) Jones Office No. 4--Terry Smerling Office No. 10--Reginald A.

Proposition 198, the March 26 ballot's Open Primary Initiative, offers Californians the chance to choose elected officials who will be more responsive to the needs and more respectful of the views of the majority of their constituents. It would do so by removing party registration as a condition for voting in partisan primary elections. All voters, including the 1.

Gov. George Deukmejian said Wednesday he supports the idea of moving the June state primary election closer to the November general election as a way of reducing costs and shortening political campaigns. Responding to a question at a press conference, Deukmejian said he likes the idea of a September state primary. He recalled that when he was a state senator, he had proposed legislation to do just that, but the bill failed to pass.

The day after Eric Garcetti won a spot in the May runoff for Los Angeles mayor, the city councilman turned his focus to African Americans in South Los Angeles, campaigning in Leimert Park with comedian D.L. Hughley. "In too many of our communities, especially communities of color, we still have way too much crime," Garcetti told the audience. "We still have too many gunshots, too few opportunities for our young people. " A day later, Garcetti rival Wendy Greuel, the city controller, announced that one of the city's premier black clergymen, Rev. Cecil "Chip" Murray, was backing her. "Chip Murray has redefined what it means to be a faith leader in Los Angeles," she said of the former pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church.

City Councilman Eric Garcetti and Controller Wendy Greuel are locked in a tie for the lead in the Los Angeles mayoral primary, but their chances of clinching spots in the May runoff rest with a huge swath of likely voters open to switching candidates before Tuesday's vote, according to a new USC Price / Los Angeles Times poll. The survey, taken last Sunday through Wednesday, found Garcetti at 27% and Greuel at a statistically even 25%. Bunched behind the two Democrats were Republican lawyer Kevin James at 15% and Democratic Councilwoman Jan Perry at 14%. Former technology executive Emanuel Pleitez trailed at 5%. The survey showed that none of the major candidates has cultivated deep support among any of the big voter groups that can swing Los Angeles elections.

Less than a third of California's voters participated in the June primary election, the secretary of state's office said Friday, and the majority did so by mail. Turnout for the June 5 election was 5,328,296, or 31%, and 65% used mail-in ballots instead of voting at the polls on election day. Among the counties, turnout was lowest in Los Angeles County, where just 21.8% of voters cast ballots. It was highest in rural Sierra (59.2%), Alpine (58.6%) and Amador (57.1%) counties.

California's new "top-two" primary election will be put to its first widespread test Tuesday, when state voters will be free to select candidates for Congress and the statehouse regardless of political party. The new primary sends the two candidates who receive the most votes to November's general election, opening the door for independent candidates and same-party slugfests. In past years, incumbents enjoyed a firm advantage. But Tuesday's election will have one of the largest batches of competitive races in decades for the Legislature and Congress.

In the first broad test of California's new "top-two" election system, many candidates in heated races for Congress and the state Legislature have been campaigning earlier, spending more money and downplaying their party affiliation as they try to widen their appeal. Gone are the party primaries, except in the presidential race. Now all state candidates appear on a single ballot. Only those who come in first or second on June 5 will move on to the November general election, in which no write-in or other added candidates will be allowed.

Mitt Romney's big win in the Illinois primary didn't end the fight for the Republican presidential nomination. But it may all but guarantee that after repeated slips and stumbles, including a fresh one hours after his victory, the former Massachusetts governor will lead the GOP into the fall contest against President Obama. Rick Santorum, Romney's chief antagonist, is not going away any time soon. He is almost certain to notch a few more victories, perhaps as early as Saturday in Louisiana, the kind of heavily rural, religious and deeply conservative state that has repeatedly backed the former Pennsylvania senator.

A proposed constitutional amendment backed by lawmakers combined too many issues into one ballot measure and must be split into two items, a state appeals court said Friday. Supporters of Proposition 62, which would set up a Louisiana-style open primary election, had asked the 3rd District Court of Appeal to remove from the November ballot a rival measure, Proposition 60.

A campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination that has pivoted on race and gender could be decided here today by another divide, the state's urban north versus the rural south -- pitting Ohio's popular governor against a cadre of big-city mayors. While Sens.

American voters have fired two modern presidents after just one term, Jimmy Carter in 1980 and George H.W. Bush in 1992. Both suffered because the economy was in poor shape, and both faced disaffection within their own parties. But there was another thing those candidates had in common: They both faced relatively strong third-party candidates in the November election. John B. Anderson in 1980 and H. Ross Perot in 1992 both ran as independent centrists, and while they weren't the only reason the incumbents lost (Ronald Reagan won a majority of the popular vote in 1980)

Many Southern California lawmakers in hot primary contests have been raising money at a brisk pace ahead of the June congressional races, reports filed with the Federal Election Commission show. Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Valley Village) — who will face off against Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) in what many political experts believe could become the most expensive House race in history — brought in more than $800,000 between July 1 and Sept. 30, according to documents posted on the FEC website over the weekend.