SLO County GOP urged voters to drop ballots at its offices — then stopped amid state uproar
The Republican Party of San Luis Obispo County pushed — and abruptly ended — a campaign for voters to use two unofficial ballot drop locations at its local offices amid statewide concern about such drop-offs and ballot harvesting.
As recently as Tuesday, the local Republican Party chapter’s website encouraged voters to drop off their ballots to four “secure” ballot drop-off locations, including GOP offices at 7357 El Camino Real in Atascadero and 1312 E. Grand Ave. in Arroyo Grande.
The chapter also directed voters to take ballots to the San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder’s Office, 1055 Monterey St. in San Luis Obispo, and the Voter Service Center at 6565 Capistrano Ave. in Atascadero.
The county election office and Atascadero Voter Service Center are official ballot drop-off locations, according to the county’s list of ballot return spots, but the GOP offices in Arroyo Grande and Atascadero are not.
San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder Tommy Gong said Wednesday that his office was aware of reports of unofficial drop-off boxes at the two locations, but a visit to the Atascadero and Arroyo Grande offices on Tuesday evening revealed no boxes on the premises.
“They don’t have a box, or at least it is no longer there,” Gong told The Tribune via phone Wednesday.
Gong said he spoke with local Republican Party representatives about regulations surrounding third parties returning ballots — namely that the back of the ballot has to be filled out to indicate the voter is appointing another person to return their ballot for them — and felt that the representatives understood those regulations.
“I think they have rectified their procedures based on the information I gave them,” he said.
As of Wednesday, a blurb and video encouraging people to “secure your vote” by turning in their ballots at the four listed locations was no longer on the Republican Party of San Luis Obispo County’s website.
Multiple requests for comment from the Republican Party of San Luis Obispo County organization were not returned.
When reached by phone on Wednesday, a worker at the Atascadero office hung up. After a return call, the worker said the party “is not speaking to the newspaper” at this time.
What’s the big deal about unofficial ballot boxes in California?
The appearance and sudden disappearance of ballot drop-off locations at local Republican offices comes as a statewide battle brews over the legality of non-official ballot boxes.
On Monday, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra sent a cease-and-desist order to state Republicans after party officials admitted to owning more than 50 drop boxes for mail-in ballots in Los Angeles, Fresno and Orange counties. State officials say the boxes, which according to The New York Times were labeled as “Official Ballot Drop off Box” or a “Ballot Drop Box,” are illegal.
On Wednesday, the state Republican Party issued a statement saying it will continue to gather ballots at its offices.
The state Republican party noted that any boxes it operated labeled “official” were labeled so in error, but also contested state officials’ assertions that the boxes themselves were illegal — saying that ballot collecting, sometimes called ballot harvesting, is a longstanding California practice, especially among state Democrats.
“The California Republican Party opposes ballot harvesting and wishes you had enacted adequate ballot security provisions after the laws were changed,” the party wrote in a letter to California Secretary of State Alex Padilla on Wednesday. “Its program of collecting (not soliciting) VBM ballots from voters who voluntarily choose to entrust their ballot to the party volunteers, is more secure, by far, than the door-to-door solicitation we have seen from the Democrat Party.”
The state allows a designated person to deliver a voter’s mail ballot for them, which in recent years has translated to party volunteers going door-to-door to collect ballots from voters.
California law requires the voter to specifically note the person’s name who will be delivering the ballot on their behalf, and their relationship to them, however. State Democrats say that when someone drops their ballot in one of the unofficial boxes, they can’t properly do this, because they don’t know who will be returning the ballot for them.
The state law does grant allowances for improperly filled-out ballots, however, and doesn’t prohibit those without a returnee designated from being counted.
More police surveillance near drop boxes in Atascadero
Gong said he was aware there was some confusion surrounding official ballot drop-off boxes, especially in Atascadero.
Gong said some people reported to his office that the mail drop-off boxes at the U.S. Post Office location in Atascadero, which some were confusing with ballot boxes, were locked. This prevented them from dropping off their ballots there, Gong said, and prompted some worries about voter suppression in the area.
Gong said the Post Office is locking its drop boxes after hours so that ballots or mail can’t be taken from them overnight. He suggested anyone mailing back their ballot to do so during Post Office hours, either by going inside to mail it or putting it in the mailboxes on the premises.
Gong said he was also aware of reports of someone directing voters away from the official ballot box at the Atascadero public library, and toward the Republican headquarters drop location instead.
Gong said that could qualify as electioneering, something strictly prohibited within 100 feet of a polling location.
“These are the things that we are certainly trying to avoid,” he said. “We don’t want voters to feel like they are intimidated. They should be able to cast their vote-by-mail ballots freely, just like they would at a Voter Service Center.”
To combat this, Gong said he has reached out to the Atascadero Police Department to ask for more patrols in the area to keep an eye out for loiterers around the ballot drop location at the Atascadero library.
Gong said it’s already been an interesting year to be working in the county elections office.
“We knew the changes were going to be different this year,” Gong said. “The unintended consequences, we are still trying to discover that as we go along.”
How and where to drop off your ballot in SLO County
San Luis Obispo County has 19 official drop box locations where voters can securely drop off their ballots. A list of those is available here.
Voters can also mail back their ballots at the U.S. Post Office, or can drop them off at one of 23 Voter Service Centers set to open on Oct. 31. A list of those is available on the County Clerk’s Office website.
If you have turned in your ballot and are concerned about whether it has been received, you can sign up for automatic text alerts via “Where’s My Ballot?” to track its status. Go here to sign up.
This story was originally published October 15, 2020 at 1:59 PM.
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