SLO County elections office has received 75,000 ballots and counting
As of Thursday afternoon, the San Luis Obispo County elections office had scanned about 75,000 ballots, public information officer for the Clerk-Recorder’s Office Erin Clausen told The Tribune.
With five days to go until the election, that represents about 41% of registered voters in SLO County, and ballots continue to pour in, Clausen said.
“We definitely have more (from drop box pickups) that we received yesterday after I pulled that number,” Clausen wrote to The Tribune in a text message.
Teams of elections officials collect ballots daily from drop box locations around the county.
Not all received ballots have made it all the way through processing and tabulation yet, but they’ve gone through the first step of signature scanning and verification, she said.
Clausen said she hopes to see a county voter turnout as high as the 2020 general election, which was 88% of registered voters.
“SLO is always a higher-than-average turnout county compared to other California counties,” Clausen said. “We tend to be the highest turnout of any county our size.”
The first round of results will be posted shortly after polls close at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, representing all the ballots received and tabulated by 1 p.m. Saturday. Subsequent election night updates will be made every two hours until all the poll ballots have been counted and added to the results, Clausen said.
County elections official says to vote early
In SLO County, ballots need to be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by the Clerk-Recorder’s Office by Nov. 12 — one week later — to be counted.
But County Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano implores everyone who plans to vote to do sooner rather than waiting for Election Day.
“I highly, highly, highly encourage people to get their ballot in early, and that way they get processed and included in the 8 o’clock results on Election Night,” Cano told The Tribune.
She said that any vote-by-mail ballots received after Saturday won’t be processed by the county election center until the following week.
Where to drop off your ballot ahead of Election Day
Once you’ve filled out your ballot, you can send it in the mail using the included return envelope or drop it off in person at any of the county’s drop box locations.
In the North County:
- Atascadero Library, 6555 Capistrano Ave.
- San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder’s Office, 6565 Capistrano Ave., Atascadero
- Paso Robles City Library, 1000 Spring St.
- San Miguel Community Services District, 1765 Bonita Place
- Santa Margarita Library, 9630 Murphy Ave.
- Shandon Library, 195 North Second St.
- Templeton Community Services District, 420 Crocker St.
In the South County:
- Arroyo Grande Library, 800 West Branch St.
- Arroyo Grande City Hall, 300 East Branch St.
- Grover Beach City Hall, 154 South Eighth St.
- Nipomo Library, 918 West Tefft St.
- Oceano Library, 1511 19th St.
- Pismo Beach City Hall, 760 Mattie Road
On the North Coast:
- Cambria Library, 1043 Main St.
- Cayucos Library, 310 B St.
- Los Osos Library, 2075 Palisades
- Morro Bay Library, 625 Harbor St.
In San Luis Obispo:
- Cal Poly, University Union, Second Floor, 1 Grand Ave.
- San Luis Obispo County Department of Social Services, 3433 South Higuera St.
- San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder’s Office, 1055 Monterey St.
Cano noted that another reason to vote early is that not all ballot drop boxes are open until 8 p.m. on Election Day and instead are subject to the hours of the facility they are located in. The ballot drop box located at the County Government Building in San Luis Obispo will be open until 8 p.m. on Election Day, Cano said.
If voting on Election Day, voters also can drop their ballots off at any in-person polling location.
