Riverside County officials preparing voters for 2016 primary

With the California Presidential Primary only two months away, voting officials say they’re getting ready for the big day.

“We just want to get as many registered voters, or people that aren’t already registered to vote, to go ahead and register to vote,” Riverside County Registrar of Voters Rebecca Spencer said. “It’s typical for the presidential elections, we see a lot more interest than we do in maybe the gubernatorial elections.”

Spencer said with a high turnout similar to 2008 expected for this year, officials say voters continue to call asking about registration.

“It changes for every single election, and differs by state,” Spencer said. “So, there’s some confusion. They watch the news, and they hear in Wisconsin it’s one way, or in New York it’s a different way.”

Voting officials say one way residents can check to see whether they’re registered to vote in Riverside County is to go to their website, voteinfo.net, click on the link where it says ‘Am I Registered,’ and type in their birth date and the last four digits of either their driver’s license or social security number.

Information officials say they’re working to have when it’s time to cast the ballot.

“We’ve been working on this election for almost a year now getting ready for it, and we just want to make sure that there’s as much information out there available as possible,” Spencer said.

Spencer said California is holding a modified open primary, with “No Party Preference” voters having the options of casting their ballot for either the American Independent, Democratic or Libertarian party.

She said voting officials will mail out information to voters at the end of April, before the registration deadline set for May 23rd.