Community Corner
Primary Election 2012: What's New, What to Expect and Where to Go
Primary election is Tuesday. A peek into what's changed this year and some candidates and measures to look for.
With the June primary election on Tuesday, registered voters are anxious to make their way to the polling place.
This year, we vote for our preference for president and congressional candidates as well as some state propositions and a few familiar measures.
On a local note, District 15 candidates for the House are incumbent Democrat Pete Stark and Democratic challenger Eric Swalwell as well as Chris Peraja, who is listed on the ballot as "no party preference." You may read more on each candidate's background and initiatives here
Find out what's happening in Pleasantonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Voters in Hayward, Union City, Fremont (partial), Dublin, Pleasanton, Livermore and unincorporated areas including Castro Valley, Sunol and San Lorenzo, are in the new Congressional District 15. Information on the new redistricting can be found on this website.
Unlike previous years, candidates running in the primary will be under the new "Top-Two Open Primary Act," which states the top two candidates regardless of their party will be on one combined ballot for State and Congress elections. Before, voters were able to choose their candidate according to their selected party ballot. The top two finishers advance to the November general election ballot. This will not be the case in voting for the president, county central committees or non-partisan groups including Superior Court Judges.
Find out what's happening in Pleasantonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Also on the June ballot, Proposition 28 changes the time that a person can serve in the California Legislature from 14 years to 12 years.
Proposition 29 establishes an additional tax on cigarettes and other related products that will go toward future cancer research.
Measure E discussions have been circulating around for the past few months. Measure E would allow the Dublin Unified School District to issue bonds ($99 million) to go toward facility-specific school projects.
If you plan on voting, you are compensated for two hours paid time off from work as stated by California law. Plan on bringing a state-issued ID to avoid any mix-ups or name issues.
You can find out your polling place simply by typing in your address, name and birthdate on the Registrar of Voter's website.
On Tuesday evening, Pleasanton Patch will have up-to-the-minute results from the primary voting.
