Sonoma voters cast their Super Tuesday ballots

California's Presidential Primary Election is March 3 – the same as in 13 other states, from Utah to Maine — giving the day its nickname of Super Tuesday.

The elections today will brings the total number of states that will have made their choice for a Democratic candidate to 18, and more than a third of the delegates that will go to the Democratic convention in Milwaukee in July will have been selected.

Over the weekend three Democratic presidential candidates dropped out – Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Tom Steyer – leaving a choice between such candidates as former Vice President Joe Biden, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and late entrant Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire ex-mayor of New York City who has yet to appear on any primary ballot.

But it's not the only race on the ballot in California. Here in Sonoma Valley the 1st District Supervisor seat is on the ballot again, with incumbent Susan Gorin facing off against challenger David Cook, a two-term Sonoma City Councilmember. Two other supervisors are also up for re-election, 5th District Supervisor Lynda Hopkins and 3rd District Supervisor Shirlee Zane, each with a single challenger.

Ballots include multiple initiatives as well, including one state-wide measure, Proposition 13, which if passed would authorize bonds for repair, construction and modernization of public schools.

Voters in Sonoma and Marin counties will consider Measure I, which would extend the quarter-cent sales tax that finances SMART (Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit) for another 30 years. Even though Valley voters may feel somewhat distant from the current route of the SMART trains, which runs from Santa Rosa to Larkspur along the 101 corridor, the agency does own track in Schellville and has indicated an interest in adding and east-west line to Vallejo in coming decades.

Measure G is an effort to consolidate many of the county's 38 fire districts and adding personnel, training and equipment to their forces, paid for by a half-cent sales tax increase.

Aside from what's on the ballot, where to vote is the other important question. Don't be so sure that you'll be casting a ballot on Tuesday in the same location you did last time; if you are not certain, you can look up your polling place by name, address and other identification at voterstatus.sos.ca.gov, or find your location simply by entering your address at sos.ca.gov/elections/polling-place.

Wendy Hudson, the county's assistant registrar of voters, shared the figures for registered voters in the 1st District – which includes the Sonoma Valley and adjoining areas, including Bennett Valley and parts of Santa Rosa. There are 60,814 registered voters in the 1st District. Of those 1st District voters, 49,973 – or 82 percent – requested vote-by-mail ballots, roughly the same percentage as the county as a whole.

If a voter encounters a registration problem at their place of polling, don't worry, says Deva Marie Proto, the chief deputy clerk-recorder for the county. Proto said that some voters who have updated their drivers license registration may have changed their political affiliation or vote-by-mail status in the DMV process without knowing they had done so.

Those who have received a vote-by-mail ballot can still vote at their local polling place, simply by dropping your filled-out ballot in the signed envelope. If you don't have the ballot or want to vote on-site anyway, the poll worker will call the registrar's office to confirm whether a vote-by-mail ballot has already been received. Assuming a ballot hasn't already been cast, the voter will be issued an official ballot. (If a voter has already voted by mail, they may be offered a provisional ballot, but 'you're not supposed to do a do-over vote,' said Hudson.)

If a voter has registered as 'no party preference,' there may be limits on which presidential candidates they can vote for. Vote-by-mail voters can request presidential ballots for the American Independent, Democratic or Libertarian parties, but not the Green, Peace and Freedom or Republican parties.

As of Tuesday noon, the county had received back only 28 percent of the vote-by-mail ballots that had been distributed, and a significant percentage of registered vote-by-mail voters are expected to cast their vote at their polling place.

Polling places in the county open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. If there is a line at closing time, polling place volunteers will place someone at the end of the line, after which no additional voters will be allowed to join, said Hudson.

The county registrar expects to release the results of most of the vote-by-mail ballots shortly after the polls close, at 8 p.m. The results will be updated through the night as precinct results come in.

Email christian.kallen@sonomanews.com.