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Cerritos provides timeline and voter reminders ahead of three early‑2025 elections
Summary
City Clerk Cindy Nava told the Cerritos City Council that voters will receive multiple ballots this spring — for a State Senate special primary and for the city’s March 4 municipal election — and urged care placing city and county ballots in the correct envelopes. The council discussed outreach and limits on city authority over registration and vote centers.
City Clerk Cindy Nava updated the Cerritos City Council on Jan. 9 about two overlapping election cycles that will affect residents this spring, and she urged voters to follow envelope and return instructions carefully.
“Beginning January 27, active Cerritos registered voters will be mailed vote by mail ballots” for the special primary for State Senate District 36, and “beginning February 3, active Cerritos registered voters will also be mailed official ballots for the Cerritos General Municipal Election,” Nava said during the presentation.
The city is running its March 4 municipal election as an all‑mail ballot election with limited in‑person hours at City Hall and a 24‑hour ballot drop box at the Civic Center and Cerritos Park East, Nava said. She warned voters to place ballots for the city contest in the Cerritos envelope and State Senate ballots in the county envelope so they are routed to the proper jurisdiction.
Councilmember Frank Kiyama raised concerns that a standalone March election could cost the city roughly $120,000 more than consolidating with the county while offering fewer voter services, including same‑day registration and provisional ballots. Nava replied that the county is the registrar of voters and that certain statutory authorities — including voter registration — reside with the county, not the city; she offered to expand outreach and said staff will continue to post sample‑ballot information in multiple languages.
The council and staff also discussed timing and content of postcards the city mailed to about 14,000 households; Nava said the postcards were mailed in November and that the special state election was called in December, meaning the cards could not include that late‑breaking contest. She said the official sample ballot and voter information guide will be mailed to each registered voter in the weeks ahead.
The city advised voters who opt to mail ballots that ballots must be postmarked by the respective election day and received by the appropriate entity within seven days after the election. Nava said staff will continue to coordinate with the county and expand outreach through the city website, social media and presence at community events.
The council did not take a formal vote on the election approach during the presentation; several members asked staff to bring additional information and to consider returning with options if members want to revisit consolidated versus standalone elections in future years.
