The Secretary of State will be releasing the official list of qualified candidates for the SD-16 and AD-80 Special Elections on April 2, but the Notice to Candidates (an early list of candidates that’s almost always identical to the qualified candidates list) came out late last week. The candidates are:

Senate District 16

• Mohammad Arif     Peace and Freedom
• Paulina Miranda     Democratic
• Leticia Perez     Democratic
• Francisco “Frank” Ramirez     Democratic
• Andy Vidak     Republican

Assembly District 80

• Steve Castaneda    Democrat
• Lorena Gonzalez    Democrat

For more information, visit joincalifornia.com/election/2013-05-21