The June 5th Primary is drawing near and this is the first statewide election conducted under the new rules of the Top Two Candidates Open Primary Act. Secretary Bowen, the state’s chief elections officer, commented, “From a voter’s perspective, the new top-two primary law actually simplifies the process and offers more choices. While voters still must select just one candidate for each office under the top-two primary, they get to choose from the entire pool of candidates running for each office instead of just a portion based on their political party preference.”

So as a voter, what do you need to know about the new system? Here’s a good summary from the Secretary of State’s Office: “Under the new top-two primary system, what used to be known as party-nominated offices are now called voter-nominated offices. Again, other than presidential, county central committees and local offices, all candidates running in a primary election for voter-nominated offices – regardless of their party preference – will appear on a single primary election ballot, and people can vote for any candidate. The top two overall vote-getters (not the top vote-getter from each qualified political party) will move on to the November 6 General Election. Even if there are only two candidates in the primary, a general election is still required

Millions of Californians have already begun casting their ballots despite the fact that the primary is not until June 5 due to the popularity of mail-in ballots.

Here’s some important dates you need to know:

The last day to register to vote in the June 5 primary election is May 21

The last day to request a vote-by-mail ballot is May 29