How will coronavirus change voting in SLO County this November?
The voting process will change for Californians in the presidential election this November, especially for the one in five San Luis Obispo County residents who tend to vote in person.
How voters will cast their ballots while staying safe is a national conversation right now, especially after an early-April election in Wisconsin left voters confused and at risk of becoming infected with the coronavirus.
California is ahead of several other states, having allowed vote-by-mail for years.
Still, with the vote less than six months away, California election officials and voter-rights advocates are debating the best way to proceed with in-person polling places while balancing public health, accessibility and logistical limitations.
County Clerk Tommy Gong joins statewide calls each day to try to hammer out the details. Ten committees are focused on specific issues, including staffing, vote-by-mail ballots, and in-person locations.
Here’s what we know so far about what voting will look like in SLO County:
Every registered voter will receive a ballot in the mail
California is the first state in the nation to commit to sending ballots in the mail to all registered voters before the November presidential election in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
That won’t be a huge change for a majority of voters in the state and county who already receive a ballot in the mail. In San Luis Obispo County, approximately 79% of the 111,239 residents who voted in March turned in a vote-by-mail ballot, according to the county elections office.
Of those ballots, 69,126 were sent in the mail, 3,384 were dropped off in a ballot box, 1,095 were dropped off in person, and 14,381 were physically returned at a polling place. Another 96 were returned from military and overseas voters by fax.
Mail-in voters will likely see additional services come November, including additional tracking information on envelopes that will enable the voter to see when their ballot is received by the county. That requires an envelop redesign, which is currently underway.
Voters will be able to cast ballots in person
Residents will have the opportunity to vote in person, where social distancing will be required and workers will wear personal protective equipment.
Those locations might be open for several days leading up to Election Day, but the number of in-person voting locations will likely decline from previous elections. And, there is a lack of consensus across the state about how many locations should be available.
Several county officials are lobbying to have fewer in-person voting locations that are in larger spaces that allow for social distancing,, while encouraging voters to vote by mail. Another philosophy is to have more voter locations, which will draw fewer people.
That option comes with its own benefits and limitations.
Citizens who speak or read English as a second language and those with lower socio-economic status tend to more often rely on in-person voting, and having more options closer to home would benefit these communities, Gong said.
However, while more locations is a preferred option for voter accessibility, it would require more poll workers and that’s a big problem in San Luis Obispo County because recruiting precinct workers has become more difficult during the pandemic, Gong told The Tribune.
About a third of poll workers and locations that traditionally participate in the election process have told Gong they won’t be able to assist in November, mostly because they fall into a category of residents at risk of serious complications from COVID-19.
“What’s the balancing act for that? I don’t know the answer to that,” Gong said.
Additional guidance from the state is expected by the end of May.
