As the California primary comes closer, it is incumbent that our Iranian-American community come show up at the election polls and vote for a candidate which takes a stance against military confrontation with Iran. Unfortunately, many of the Republican and some Democratic candidates have not taken this position and continue to leave the military option on the table.

It is important for us as Iranian-Americans to vote in the California Primary, given that it is the state with the largest number of delegates and the state most likely to determine the next US President. The following will help you become eligible to vote so that you can make a difference this year.

In order to vote in the California primaries, there are only two things you need to do: 1) Register to vote and 2) Go to the polling place on election day and vote. Unless you are registered, however, you are ineligible to vote. This simple guide will tell you what you need to do in order to register:

1. In order to be eligible to vote, the registration must be postmarked no later than January 22, 2008. You can find the registration form to fill out and print by going here [1]. [2]

2. In order to vote for Republican candidates, you must identify yourself with the Republican Party in your registration application.

3. In order to register in the Democratic primary, you can identify yourself as a Democrat, Independent, or decline to state your party.

Once you have mailed out your registration form, you are eligible to vote on February 5th. All you need to do is go to the polling place for your county and fill out your ballot when you get there. Your polling place can be found here [3].

As a matter of California state law, employers are required to give employees paid time off to vote in any statewide election if the employee does not have sufficient time outside of the working hours to vote. This is to encourage voters to go out to the polls and vote. Voting hours are generally between 7am to 8pm. Mind you, employees can only receive a maximum of two hours paid time to vote and some companies require advance notice of additional time off is needed. This information can be found here [4].

Remember, by voting we can make sure that a candidate wins who supports our positions. But by staying at home, we allow others to dictate our fate.