SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Californians registered to vote will be getting their ballot in the mail this week, if they haven’t already received it. That’s because Mon., Oct. 7 is this year’s deadline for county elections offices to send those out.
“California is the largest voting base in the nation,” Sec. of State Shirley Weber said in a recent voter education video. “We have over 22 million registered voters in California alone.”
Once you fill out your ballot and sign the envelope, you can return it at a ballot drop box, in-person at a vote center or drop it in any U.S. Postal Service mailbox. If by mail, ballots must be postmarked on or before Election Day.
Once you submit your ballot, you can track its status online HERE and see when it has been received and counted.
“This is a year of tremendous resources. This is a year in which we’re going to have one of the most exciting elections of all times,” Weber said. “A presidential election is always exciting.”
Ballot drop boxes open Tues., Oct. 8.
Early in-person voting begins at limited locations in each county on Mon., Oct. 7. Check with your county elections office for those polling places.
All vote centers will open Oct. 26.
“We are committed to making sure that every Californian who is registered to vote has an opportunity to vote,” Weber said. “We hope that those of you who are eligible have registered.”
If you’re not sure whether you’re registered to vote, you can check on the Secretary of State’s website HERE.
If you do need to register to vote, the deadline to do that by mail or submit it online is Oct. 21. After that, a person registering to vote must do so in-person at their county elections office or a vote center. A person can even register on Election Day and cast a ballot that same day. The Secretary of State’s website says, “their ballots will be processed and counted once the county elections office has completed the voter registration verification process.”
“We’re looking forward to Nov. 5 to have a wonderful, safe and — in some ways — boring election, where there’s nothing unusual happening, other than you taking advantage of the opportunity to vote,” Weber said.
A person doesn’t have to vote in every race in order to submit their ballot. For example, someone could vote only for president and leave all other contests blank.
Here at ABC10, we want you to feel empowered to vote in, ideally, all the races on your ballot because your voice matters. That’s why our team has created short videos explaining each of the 10 propositions you’ll see on your ballot - and what a ‘yes’ and a ‘no’ vote mean - so you can decide for yourself. Those are available HERE.
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