The special election is approaching. See who has already voted in SLO County
The statewide special election to vote on Proposition 50 is less than two weeks away, and San Luis Obispo County voters have already been making their voices heard.
The ballot contains only one question: Should California temporarily redraw its congressional district lines without a citizens’ commission to add five Democratic seats to Congress, counterbalancing Texas’ own redistricting in favor of Republicans?
SLO County’s district boundaries would not be impacted.
As of Tuesday, over 20% of the vote-by-mail ballots distributed to county residents were returned and processed by the county elections office, a “robust” return rate, Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano said in a news release. The office had thousands more still left to process that day, she said.
Of those ballots, 47% were from registered Democrats, 33% from registered Republicans, 14% from voters registered with no party preference, 4% Independents, 1% Libertarian and less than 1% from other party voters, according to the news release.
As of Oct. 17, 82% of the ballots received were sent by mail, 14% were returned via a drop box and 4% were delivered to the elections office in person, the release said.
However, many voters continue to wait to vote on Election Day, Nov. 4, or have not yet received their ballot in the mail.
Here are a couple important things to remember as we approach the election.
Don’t wait to mail your ballot
The United States Postal Service warned that voters who live more than 50 miles from a postal hub cannot count on their mail-in ballots being postmarked the day they mail it. As a result, the Postal Service was asking all voters voting by mail to do so a week before the election, by Oct. 28.
This applies to every SLO County resident, as the closest mail hub is in Goleta, over 50 miles away from the county line.
“If you want to see your vote included in Election Night totals, remember that mail ballots received before Election Day will be processed and tabulated and included in the first set of unofficial results released at 8 p.m.,” Cano said in the release.
Ballots received at the polls or by mail in the week after Election Day — as long as they are postmarked by Nov. 4 — will be counted after Election Day, during the official canvass.
Fewer polling places mean yours might have changed
Because there is just one ballot question, there were fewer jurisdictional boundaries to consider when assigning voters to precincts and polling locations this year, the election office said.
There are only 45 polling locations this election, compared with about 70 in the general election last November.
The elections office encouraged voters to confirm their polling location ahead of Election Day if they intend to vote in person. Voters can check their voting precinct at the stub at the top of their mail ballot or by looking it up at www.sos.ca.gov/elections/polling-place.
Taking your mail ballot to the polls will make voting go quicker
SLO County residents who prefer to vote in person on Election Day are welcome to do so.
However, the elections office said voters can speed up the process by bringing their vote-by-mail ballot.
Voters who bring their mail ballot to their assigned polling location can exchange it for a poll ballot to vote in person instead. Those who don’t bring their mail ballots can still vote, they’ll just experience a wait while a poll worker calls the elections office to confirm that their mail ballot has not already been returned.
You can still register to vote on Election Day
The deadline to register to vote expired on Tuesday, but the conditional voting registration period lasts through 8 p.m. on Election Day, when the last of the polls close.
During the conditional voting period, anyone who still needs to register must do that in person either at the elections office in SLO or at the satellite North County office in Atascadero, which opens Oct. 27.
You can also register to vote at every polling location on Election Day, but these ballots will be confirmed and counted last.
The first round of results will drop at 8 p.m., close of the last polls, on Election Night, Nov. 4.
