Petaluma Voter Guide: March 2024 Voting Centers, Issues

PETALUMA, CA — Monday is the final day of early voting for the 2024 presidential primary election in California. Locally, parcel tax measures E and B for Petaluma schools will be closely watched.

In Sonoma County, there are 31 vote centers, seven of which are open daily Feb. 24-March 4 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The remaining 24 are open March 2-5 daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. All 31 Sonoma County vote centers are open 7 a.m. - 8 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, March 5.

Petaluma Vote Centers

The Petaluma Community Center, 329 N. McDowell Blvd., is currently open seven days a week through March 4, and from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, March 5.

Four more Petaluma vote centers will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 2-Monday, March 4, and from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, March 5.

• Casa Grande High School, 333 Casa Grande Road
• Petaluma City Hall, 11 English St.
• Petaluma Veterans Memorial Building 1094 Petaluma Blvd. South
• Petaluma SRJC, 1101 Capri Creek Classroom, 680 Sonoma Mountain Pkwy.

Vote Centers — previously called polling places — offer many services and greater flexibility
because you can visit any vote center in Sonoma County. At a vote center, you can drop off
your ballot; request a replacement ballot; or vote in person. Residents may also register to vote and cast a ballot on the same day. The new system indicates in real time whether someone has
voted, meaning voters no longer need to surrender their vote-by-mail ballot to vote at a vote
center.

There are also official ballot drop boxes throughout the county; here's a list.

With presidential frontrunners former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden expected to win their nominations handily, all eyes in California are on the hotly contested primary race for the seat vacated by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein as well as a slew of local races.

In Petaluma, voters will decide on 18 candidate races and four ballot measures.

Local Ballot Questions, Races

• California Prop 1: Authorizes $6.5 billion in bonds to build mental health and substance abuse treatment facilities and homeless housing.
• Petaluma Measure E: Petaluma City Elementary School District Educational Excellence Measure. To provide locally controlled funding for local elementary schools that cannot be taken away by the state to attract/retain excellent teachers; expand art and music programs; enhance math, science, engineering, technology, reading and writing programs; and maintain smaller class sizes, shall Petaluma City (Elementary) School District’s measure be adopted levying an $89 educational parcel tax, raising $1.4 million annually for 8 years, with exemptions for seniors, no funds for administrators’ salaries and independent citizen oversight?
• Petaluma Measure B: Petaluma Joint Union High School District Educational Excellence Measure. To provide locally controlled funding for local junior high/ high schools that cannot be taken away by the state to attract/ retain excellent teachers; enhance math, science, engineering, technology, writing programs; maintain smaller class sizes; and prepare students for college/ careers, shall Petaluma Joint Union High School District’s measure be adopted levying an $89 educational parcel tax, raising $2.2 million annually, for eight years, with exemptions for seniors, no funds for administrators’ salaries and independent citizen oversight?
• Sonoma County Measure H: To improve and enhance local fire prevention, protection, emergency paramedic services and disaster response throughout Sonoma County by: improving vegetation management to prevent wildfire spread; attracting and retaining qualified, local firefighters; improving response times; and updating firefighting facilities and equipment, shall Sonoma County establish a ½ cent sales tax until ended by voters, providing approximately $60 million annually, with annual audits and citizen oversight, and increase its annual appropriations limit to allow expenditure of the proceeds?

U.S. House District 2:

• Jared Huffman
• Jason Brisendine
• Chris Coulombe
• Tieff Gibbs
• Jolian Kangas

California State Assembly District 12:

• Damon Connolly
• Eryn Cervantes
• Andrew Podshadley

Sonoma County Board Of Supervisors

• District 1 candidates: Rebecca Hermosillo, Jonathan Mathieu
• District 3 candidates: Chris Coursey, Omar Medina
• District 5 candidate: Lynda Hopkins

Presidential Primary

With the presidential preference primary happening March 5, most Golden State residents already have their mail-in ballots in hand.

The primary will decide which candidate gets California's 169 delegates — the largest haul of any state — to the Republican and Democratic national conventions, to be held in July and August, respectively.

There were notable changes to California's primary this year. It moved up from June to Super Tuesday in March with 13 other states.

In California, the political parties determine whether they will have open or closed presidential parties, meaning only the party's registered voters can pick the winning candidates.

The Green Party, the Peace and Freedom Party, and the Republican Party are all holding closed primaries in California

Furthermore, the state's GOP changed the rules to winner-takes-all, so that any candidate who gets a majority wins all of the delegates. Previously, the delegates were divided up based on the number of congressional districts each Republican won.

The change, pushed by the Donald Trump campaign, raises the stakes in California's primary and favors the frontrunner in the Republican primary, which also happens to be Trump.

The American Independent Party, the Democratic Party, and the Libertarian Party hold a modified-closed primary, which means they allow No Party Preference voters to vote in their primaries.

Click here to check your voter and party registration status.

Statewide Primary Elections

All 52 of California's congressional districts will have primary races March 5 along with one U.S. Senate race. With frontrunners Trump and Biden expected to sail to victory in California's presidential primary, the real suspense centers on the Golden State's senate race.

For the senate race, California has an open primary, which means only the top two vote-getters in the primary election, regardless of party affiliation, move on to the general election.

All election season, polls have shown Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) in the lead with former Los Angeles Dodger Steve Garvey (R), Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine ), and Rep. Barbara Lee (Oakland) vying for second place to make it into the general election.

How To Vote

California voters have three options to vote.

Mail in ballot: Voters can mail in the ballots they received in the mail by signing them, sealing them and placing them in either a mailbox or an approved drop box. There are two official drop boxes in Petaluma; one is at the Petaluma Community Center, 320 N. McDowell Blvd., and the other is at the Petaluma Veterans Memorial Building, 1094 Petaluma Blvd. South. To find more drop box locations in Sonoma County, visit the county website.

Early voting: Early voting started Feb. 24 at the Petaluma Community Center. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through Monday, March 4, and from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, March 5. See more early voting locations in Sonoma County.

Traditional in-person voting: Polls are open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5. Polling locations were mailed to voters with their ballots. Here are the vote centers open on Election Day in Petaluma:

• Petaluma Community Center, 320 N. McDowell Blvd.
• Casa Grande High School, 333 Casa Grande Road
• Petaluma City Hall, 11 English St.
• Petaluma Veterans Memorial Building 1094 Petaluma Blvd. South
• Petaluma SRJC, 1101 Capri Creek Classroom, 680 Sonoma Mountain Pkwy.

There are 31 vote centers in Sonoma County; see the list here.

2024 Election: Endorsements And Voter Guides

• CalMatters
• East Bay Times
• Los Angeles Times
• The Orange-County Register
• The San Diego-Union Tribune
• Sacramento Bee
• San Francisco Chronicle
• California Secretary of State Voter Guide
• California Democratic Party Endorsements
• California Republican Party Endorsements

Key 2024 Election Dates In California

Here’s what you need to know about the 2024 election calendar in California:

• Election Day is March 5.
• Feb. 5 was the deadline for county officials to begin mailing each registered voter a vote-by-mail ballot.
• The last day to register to vote in the election was Feb. 20.
• All votes must be cast by March 5 and received by election officials by March 12.

Mail-in voters in California now have a way to track their ballots to make sure their votes are counted. The California Secretary of State is now offering Where’s My Ballot? for voters to track and receive notifications on the status of their vote-by-mail ballot.

With Where’s My Ballot? Voters who sign up will receive notices via email, text, or voice message from the county elections official regarding the status of the voter's vote-by-mail ballot including:

• When the ballot has been delivered
• The date that the voter's ballot is expected to be delivered to the voter
• If the voter's ballot is returned as undeliverable to the county elections official by the USPS
• When the voter's completed ballot has been received by the county
• Whether the voter's completed ballot has been accepted or a reason why the ballot could not be accepted and instructions of steps the voter can take to have the ballot accepted
• The deadline for the voter to return his or her ballot if the county has not received a voter's completed ballot by specified dates as determined by the county elections officials