Riverside County voters will still see Swalwell’s name on primary election ballot, but Democrats are unfazed

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, Calif. (KESQ) – The primary election is just a little over a month away. But, as the countdown continues, some late changes to the ballot won't be made, including the biggest one: Eric Swalwell's withdrawal from the governor's race.

Swalwell withdrew from the race and resigned from Congress after several sexual assault and misconduct allegations were levied against him.

The Riverside County Registrar of Voters still lists Swalwell on its list of certified candidates, and voters can expect to see his name still listed on the ballot this June. His withdrawal earlier this month came after ballots began printing.

A spokesperson for the registrar sent the following statement explaining the law around the ballots:

Under California election law, once candidates for Governor are officially certified and the ballot is finalized, names cannot be removed if a candidate later decides to withdraw from the race.  For this reason, a candidate who withdraws after certification will still appear on the ballot.

Any votes cast for the candidate will be counted as valid votes. California does not reassign or transfer those votes to another candidate. Each vote is recorded exactly as cast by the voter.

If a withdrawn candidate were to receive the highest number of votes in the gubernatorial election, California law provides mechanisms to address the situation. Depending on the timing and circumstances, this could result in a vacancy that is filled according to state procedures, including succession by the Lieutenant Governor or other actions outlined in state law.

News Channel 3 spoke with local Democrats at the Democratic Headquarters of the Desert in Cathedral City on Monday.

They said they haven't received any calls inquiring about Swalwell.

"It's a dead issue. As far as what we're hearing, it is a dead issue," commented Elle Kurpiewski at the Democratic Headquarters.

She argued focus had shifted toward other frontrunners in the race, like Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer. She said both candidates saw bumps in their polling numbers, and pointed to other candidates, like Katie Porter, still in play.

Kurpiewski was confident voters are informed and will not cast their ballots for a candidate that dropped out of the race.

"I have great faith in the intelligence of the voting public," she said. "I think people are going to see it and they're going to realize that by the time he had to pull out, it was too late."

Other voters, though, do have some concerns. Elissa Freeman, of Cathedral City, planned to vote in June's election. She was already worried about a crowded ballot, and said, "It actually doesn't make sense to have so many of them, because if people are splitting around their votes, we need to have less candidates so we can have one winning for sure."

She said keeping Swalwell on the ballot will add to confusion for voters, muddying the waters in the already-crowded field.

"They need to make everybody aware of what they're doing, especially if they're going to have somebody there that is not running. It's just going to split the voters around," she added.

But aside from Swalwell's name on the ballot, other changes to mail-in voting and voter registration are the two of the bigger concerns they're tracking. Voter registration is top of mind in each election, but Kurpiewski pointed to an important change to mail-in ballots made by the Trump administration.

"It used to be that if you dropped your ballot off on election night 11:59, it would be counted. That's not going to happen this time. If you have no way to get to a ballot box and you have to drop your ballot off on Election Day, you are going to have to walk into the post office and time stamp your ballot. We're saying to people, don't do that. Don't wait," urged Kurpiewski.

We'll have more of their comments and concerns regarding the election in our full report tonight at 5:00 p.m. Stay with us for the latest.