Newsletter: Essential Politics: The California primary gets its moment in the sun

I’m Christina Bellantoni. This is Essential Politics, and today’s the day.

After all the rallies and television ads, after stacks of seemingly endless mailers, phone calls, texts, emails and delegate counts, there’s nothing left to do but vote.

Polls opened for the California primary at 7 a.m. and they close at 8 p.m. (Find your polling place and enjoy our primary Spotify playlist.)

Keep track on our countdown clock and follow along via Snapchat as we show the inside of the Los Angeles Times newsroom during the bustling primary and from polling places across the state.

We’ll capture everything primary-related on our Essential Politics news feed, so stay with us throughout the day. We’ll also have a robust results page, so you can see how California is voting on the presidential contest and all of the other races we’re following.

CLINTON CLINCHES

The Associated Press scrambled timelines Monday when reporting that Hillary Clinton had passed the 2,383 delegates needed to secure the Democratic presidential nomination. Both Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders paid the alert little mind at appearances in California and urged supporters to show up at the polls no matter what the numbers say.

Will people still show up to vote? Sarah Wire talked to a voting data expert to get an idea.

As Clinton looks to make history as the first female nominee from a major party, Chris Megerian has the five things we’re watching as results come in tonight.

GET SMART FAST

You’ve got voting to get to. If you’re looking for something to read while you’re waiting in line at the polling place, start here with our primary primer. Basically we’ve collected all the stories we’ve written about all of the state and local races on the California ballot so you can catch up quick, or scan for pieces about your district.

We also built a home for our coverage of the U.S. Senate race to replace retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Are you voting in the primary? Show us what voting day in California looks like. Tweet @latimes photos of the polls, campaign signs in your neighborhood and mailers you’ve received. Colleen Shalby from our social media team will feature your tweets on our live blog.

TODAY’S ESSENTIALS

— Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger voted for John Kasich in the California primary.

— This state Senate candidate walked the streets of Chinatown with Sanders on Monday.

— Californians likely will be asked to decide in November whether to expand parole to thousands more inmates in what would be the state’s biggest change in sentencing law in decades. The proposed reworking of the parole system cleared a key hurdle Monday, when the California Supreme Court ruled 6-1 that the proponents of a ballot measure backed by Gov. Jerry Brown did not violate a state election law. The ruling, a victory for Brown, gives the attorney general wide latitude to accept last-minute, major changes to proposed initiatives.

— Legislators, faced with a November ballot initiative that would add new rules to the way bills are passed in Sacramento, are trying to take action on their own. But odds of a compromise with the initiative’s backers may be slim.

— A state Senator wants new legislation to bolster police transparency after helping to kill a bill that would have done just that.

— Former state Assemblyman Tom Calderon pleaded guilty Monday to one count of money laundering in exchange for a prison sentence of no more than 12 months in a criminal case alleging that his brother, former state Sen. Ron Calderon, accepted bribes, according to a court filing released today by the U.S. attorney’s office.

— What do you think of Donald Trump? Readers can weigh in with our quick survey.

LOGISTICS

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Please send thoughts, concerns and news tips to politics@latimes.com.