Voting in North Coast? Here’s what to do with your ballot
Early voting for the contentious, emotion-filled presidential election Nov. 3 began in San Luis Obispo County on Oct. 5.
With all the confusion about the voting process this year, it’s no wonder that some North Coast voters have expressed uncertainty about where they can safely deposit their ballots locally in early voting, or where the official, county-designated drop-box locations are.
Voters in Cambria, San Simeon and Harmony seeking to vote early locally can drop off their ballots at two authorized boxes at the Cambria Library.
According to Tami Bisantz of the county Clerk-Recorder’s office, and Cambria Library manager Destiny Johnson, there’s an official, county-installed Elections Office ballot lock-box inside the library Voters can deposit their completed ballots there whenever the local branch is open — 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
The library is located at 1043 Main St., kitty-corner across from the Veterans Memorial Building.
Should voters want to cast their ballots when the library branch is closed, they can put them into the book-drop box that’s right outside the library entrance off the parking lot.
That large, deep box with a built-in baffle in the drop section is locked, bolted to the concrete and authorized by the county clerk recorder to be a ballot drop box, Johnson said, and is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“We have strict instructions on handling, and the chain of custody form we complete at each stage” of transfer, Johnson said via email. “Deputized staff are delivering ballots to the Clerk-Recorder’s office on a designated schedule … every three business days until the election.”
Johnson and Tina Baugh are the deputy clerk recorders at the Cambria branch. Therefore, they’re the only ones there who “can handle the ballots and follow all the guidelines,” Bisantz said.
The delivery protocol calls for both deputies to be at the outdoor box when it’s emptied of books and ballots. The deputies then accompany those ballots into the library, where they’re deposited into the locked indoor box, “the same way voters would if they were putting the ballots into that box themselves,” Bisantz said.
Delivering the ballots
When the time comes for the ballots to be delivered to the Clerk Recorder’s office, the two women open the combination lock on the indoor box and remove the single-use ballot bag that’s secured inside that box. They count the ballots, put them in the official bag, and fill out the required form, noting the number on the serial-numbered, zip-type lock that’s attached to the bag, and is what keeps it closed securely.
From that point on, “that bag isn’t out of our sight,” Johnson said, “and you’d have to cut the bag to get into it.”
The deputies then secure the filled ballot bag for transport, install a new ballot bag in the lock box and deliver the bag and its so-valuable contents to the county Clerk-Recorder’s office.
To do that, Johnson said, the two deputies “walk the bag out together and, observing social distancing, get in the car, one in front, one in back. One of us is with the bag at all times. It does not leave our sight or our control until we hand it off to elections officers.”
At the county office, the clerk with the keys unlocks the lock to remove and begin processing the ballots. The bag can then be reused, Johnson said.
However, Bisantz said, if a voter isn’t comfortable using either box at the Cambria library, “that’s OK. There are other drop boxes elsewhere in the county.”
Voters can mail their ballots, she said, or bring them to the county Elections Office at 1055 Monterey St. in San Luis Obispo, which is open 8 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
There are a total of 19 drop-off locations countywide, including at public libraries in Morro Bay, Los Osos and Cayucos.
Voters can also wait to cast their ballots in person as usual on Election Day, Nov. 3, which in Cambria happens at the Veterans Memorial Building, a voter service center.
For more information, go to www.slovote.com.
