VOTING OPENS FOR 80TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT ELECTION

Early voters can visit 5 locations to cast ballots before Election Day

Voters in the 80th Assembly District can vote now in the special primary election to fill the open seat.

Election Day is April 5, but early voting has started at five vote centers, open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Voters can drop off their ballots or vote in person at those sites. The vote centers offer language assistance, voter regischula tration, same-day voting and ADA accessible voting services.

Voters will use a touch screen to make selections on ballot marking devices, then print out the official paper ballot and drop it in the ballot box.

The special election will fill a vacancy for the remainder of an assembly term that ends in December. If no candidate wins a majority of votes, the two front-runners will go to a runoff held during the June 7 primary election. Voters will separately choose a candidate for the subsequent term during the general election this year.

The seat opened when Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez, who served for nearly a decade, resigned Jan. 3 to take a job as chief executive of the California Labor Federation.

Three candidates are running for the seat, including Democrats Georgette Gómez, an environmental advocate who served on the San Diego City Council from 2016 until 2020, and David Alvarez, a former social worker who held a San Diego City Council seat from 2010 to 2018. Republican Lincoln Pickard, who has run for the seat in four previous elections, is also on the ballot.

The vote centers are located at Southwestern Community College in Vista, the Camacho Recreation Center in National City, and at the Southcrest Recreation Center, Montgomery High School and Colonel Irving Salomon Community Center in San Diego.

Early voting is also taking place at the Registrar’s office from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

On Election Day, April 5, four more vote centers will open for a total of nine locations, with voting open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. For more information on how and where to vote visit sdvote.com.