Walnut Creek March 2024 Voter Guide: What's On Ballot, Vote Centers

WALNUT CREEK, CA — The 2024 presidential primary election season in California is officially underway, but the real excitement in California comes in the form of down-ballot races.

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 Walnut Creek, voters will decide on 21 candidate races and one ballot measure.

Ballot Question, Local Races

• California Prop 1: Authorizes $6.5 billion in bonds to build mental health and substance abuse treatment facilities and homeless housing.

U.S. House District 10:

• Mark DeSaulnier (D)
• Nolan Chen (R)
• Mohamed Elsherbini (NP)
• Katherine Piccinini (R)
• Joe Sweeney (NP)

California State Senate District 9:

• Tim Grayson (D)
• Marisol Rubio (D)
• Joseph Grcar (R) write-in
• David Minor (R) write-in

California State Assembly District 16

• Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D)
• Joseph Rubay (R)

Contra Costa County Board Of Supervisors (nonpartisan)

• District 2 candidates: Candace Andersen
• District 3 candidates: Diane Burgis
• District 5 candidate: Mike Barbanica, Iztacchuauhtli Hector Gonzalez, Jelani Killings, Shanelle Scales-Preston

Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge (nonpartisan)

Twelve candidates are running uncontested to retain their respective seats:

• Ayana Young, seat H
• Charles Burch, seat GG
• Christopher Bowen, seat LL
• Colleen Gleason, seat I
• Frank Riebli, seat D
• Gina Dashman, seat AA
• Joni Hiramoto, seat EE
• Mary Ann O'Malley, seat Z
• Palvir Shokers, seat T
• Peter Change, seat O
• Rebecca Hardie, seat BB
• Shara Beltramo, seat FF

Presidential Primary

With the presidential preference primary happening Tuesday, 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.

All three top contenders have been stumping in California. President Joe Biden and Republican contender Nikki Haley visited Southern California earlier this month. Biden is slated to return Feb. 20 for a series of campaign events in the Los Angeles area. GOP frontrunner Donald Trump campaigned in the Golden State days after skipping the Republican debate in September.

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 Tuesday 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.

According to a California Elections and Policy Poll released in February, Porter and Garvey were deadlocked in the race for second place.

Schiff went into February far in the lead with 25 percent of likely voters while Porter and Garvey, each garnered support from 15 percent of likely voters. Lee was polling in fourth place at 7 percent of the vote, according to the poll.

It's been decades since a Republican won statewide office in California, and that may be why the Schiff campaign is expending considerable capital to raise Garvey's profile among Republican voters through a series of expensive Fox News ads, touting him as too conservative for California.

Garvey, with just over $300,000 in his war chest, can't afford such ads.

Porter blasted the tactic as a “brazenly cynical” bid for Schiff to handpick his opponent in the general election, counting on deep blue California to reject any statewide Republican candidate in the general election.

According to Politico, Porter and Schiff booked a staggering $25 million in airtime. Schiff has nabbed the bulk of the Democratic establishment endorsements such as Nancy Pelosi, United Farm Workers and the Los Angeles Times editorial board. Porter, a darling of progressives, garnered endorsements from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, CA Attorney General Rob Bonta, and consumer advocacy groups.

The senate candidates are:

• Sharleta Bassett (R)
• James P. Bradley (R)
• Eric Early (R)
• Steve Garvey (R)
• Denice Gary-Pandol (R)
• Laura Garza (No party preference)
• Sepi Gilani (D)
• Don Grundmann (No party preference)
• Forrest Jones (American Independent Party of California)
• Harmesh Kumar (D)
• Barbara Lee (D)
• Sarah Sun Liew (R)
• Gail Lightfoot (L)
• James Macauley (R)
• Christina Pascucci (D)
• David Peterson (D)
• Douglas Howard Pierce (D)
• Katie Porter (D)
• Perry Pound (D)
• Raji Rab (D)
• Jonathan Reiss (R)
• John Rose (D)
• Mark Ruzon (No party preference)
• Adam Schiff (D)
• Stefan Simchowitz (R)
• Major Singh (No party preference)
• Martin Veprauskas (R)
• Eduardo Berdugo (Independent) (Write-in)
• Danny Fabricant (R) (Write-in)
• Roxanne Lawler (R) (Write-in)

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 —no postage required — or an approved drop box by 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 5. There are 40 official drop boxes in Contra Costa County, including:

• Grace Presbyterian Church, 2100 Tice Valley Blvd., Walnut Creek
• Walnut Creek City Hall, 1666 N. Main St., Walnut Creek
• Ygnacio Valley Library, 2661 Oak Grove Road, Walnut Creek

Voters can find the most up-to-date list of convenient drop-box locations here.

Early voting: Early voting starts Friday at six locations in Contra Costa County.

The following sites are open Friday, March 1 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, March 2 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m; and Monday, March 4 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.:

• Walnut Creek City Hall 1666 N. Main St., Walnut Creek
• Brentwood Community Center, 35 Oak St., Brentwood
• Pittsburg Library – Community Room, 80 Power Ave., Pittsburg
• Richmond Memorial Auditorium, 403 Civic Center Plaza, Richmond
• San Ramon Valley United Methodist Church, 902 Danville Blvd., Alamo

The following site is open for early voting Friday, March 1 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday, March 2 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; and Monday, March 4 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.:

• Contra Costa Couty Clerk Elections Building, 555 Escobar St., Martinez

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. On Election Day, 147 polling locations will be open across Contra Costa County; here is a list of polling places in Walnut Creek:

• Community of Christ Church, 1786 2nd Ave., Walnut Creek
• Event Center, 1021 Stanley Dollar Dr., Walnut Creek
• Faith Christian Fellowship, 860 Bancroft Road, Walnut Creek
• Las Lomas High School, 1460 S. Main St., Walnut Creek
• Mt. Diablo Unitarian Universalist Church, 55 Eckley Lane, Walnut Creek
• North Gate Road Chapel – LDS, 100 N. Gate Road, Walnut Creek
• St Matthew Lutheran Church, 399 Wiget Lane, Walnut Creek

Find assigned polling places 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, but early voting centers opened Feb. 24.
• 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. However, your vote will still count if you register in person on Election Day.
• Vote-by-mail ballot requests should have arrived by Feb. 27. Check your county election office website to request a vote-by-mail ballot if you have not received one yet.
• 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