California officials want voters to mail ballots back by Nov. 1. Here’s why
Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!
VOTE BY… NOV. 1?
Here’s the gist: If you live outside a major metropolitan area and want to vote-by-mail on Proposition 50, do so by the end of next week, preferably by Saturday, Nov. 1.
That’s the message from Attorney General Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who held a news conference Monday in San Francisco to encourage people to vote during the special election, and to vote before election day, Tuesday Nov. 4.
“Recent changes in the U.S. postal mail service mean that your ballot may not be counted if you drop it off at a post office or a USPS mailbox on election day,” Bonta said. “This is a change. I want to highlight this.”
In August, the USPS made it known to customers through a news release and proposed rule change that their mail may not be postmarked on the day it is sent. Send it in a day or two before you want it postmarked.
The timing is less of a concern for people within 50 miles of a processing center (they’re in San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Clarita, Richmond and Sacramento) but folks farther out than that need to heed the warning.
“In rural areas like ours, there is danger that your vote might not be counted,” said Assemblymember Alexandra Macedo, R-Tulare, in a No on 50 video shared on X.
If you do want to vote by mail on November 4 and you can’t make it to an in-person voting center or ballot box, you should go into the post office to get it postmarked for that day before sending it in.
“We want every Californian to vote. Two million of you have already done that,” said Weber during Monday’s conference.
According to the Public Policy Institute of California, the state has about 26.9 million eligible voters, meaning only 7.4% of those eligible have cast their votes.
“We hope that’s just the beginning of a rocket explosion in the next week for people actually turning in their ballots,” Weber said.
NIMBUS SCALES DOWN
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife says it will cut back Chinook salmon and steelhead trout production by 50% at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery in Gold River starting this fall due to reductions in federal funding.
In an email to The Sacramento Bee, Peter Tira, an information officer with CDFW, said the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation set the Nimbus Fish Hatchery’s budget at $2.5 million for the fiscal year, below the $3.16 million needed to maintain historical production levels and to meet federal mitigation obligations under the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act.
“Exacerbating the problem, budget reductions are compounded by increasing production costs, tariffs and inflation. To give an idea of cost, fish food alone can exceed $500,000 annually at standard production levels,” Tira said.
Tira said the Nimbus Fish Hatchery, whose fish make up about 90% of the run in the Lower American River, operates under production goals set in a 1953 plan developed jointly with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — which calls for producing enough young salmon to yield about 18,800 returning adults.
According to CDFW, the department will reduce fall-run Chinook salmon smolt production by half, from 4.5 million to 2.25 million, and cut steelhead trout production from 430,000 to 215,000. It will also release steelhead as sub-yearlings instead of yearlings into the American River, breaking from the hatchery’s usual practice.
“These reductions come at a critical time for fall-run Chinook recovery. After three years of closed commercial fishing and limited recreational opportunity, the hatchery’s output is essential to rebuilding stocks and supporting fisheries across the state,” Tira said.
“The long-term consequences of reduced output at Nimbus are expected to affect future abundance forecasts and the broader fishing industry.”
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Reclamation said it provided CDFW $2.45 million to operate the fish hatchery in the final year of the 5-year agreement that expired in June and is now providing $2.5 million under a one-year bridge agreement — a $50,000 increase.
CDFW did not immediately respond to The Bee’s questions about the increase.
— Chaewon Chung
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I don’t agree with Eleni’s policies, and she won’t bring California the change we so desperately need, but at least she would be focused on California, instead of South Carolina and wherever else Gavin Newsom’s presidential obsession takes him. It is time for Gavin to go.”
– Gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton, calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom to step aside and have Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis take the reins, following Newsom’s closure of I-5 on Saturday in response to a live fire demonstration at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County
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- California’s housing laws hang over controversial Placer County project via Stephen Hobbs
This story was originally published October 21, 2025 at 4:55 AM with the headline "California officials want voters to mail ballots back by Nov. 1. Here’s why."
