AS EARLY VOTING BEGINS, BALLOTS ARE SENT OUT
Registrar of Voters office is fully staffed, trained for expected rush of vote-by-mail ballots
Yolo County vote-by-mail ballots are quite literally in the mail.
On Monday, Yolo County elections officials delivered 115,260 vote-by-mail ballots to the West Sacramento Processing and Distribution Center.
These ballots were to be mailed to registered voters across the county beginning Tuesday.
Yolo elections officials toured the Processing and Distribution Center and met with U.S. Postal Service representatives to ensure procedures and protocols are in place for the timely delivery and processing of ballots, according to Katharine Campos, program manager for the Elections Department.
“The integrity of the delivery and processing of vote-bymail ballots is our top priority,” stated Jesse Salinas, Yolo County Assessor/Clerk-Recorder/Registrar of Voters. “We have an excellent relationship with the local USPS representatives and have been working to ensure secure and smooth deliveries of vote-by-mail ballots to all active registered Yolo County voters.”
Per Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Executive Order and Assembly Bill 423, every active, registered voter will be mailed a ballot for the Nov. 3, general election. This is part of California’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic by providing every voter a safe, secure option for casting their ballot.
Salinas is reporting there are 58,900 registered Democrats, 22,969 registered Republicans, 3,296 registered American Independent and 565 people registered with the Green Party.
This signifies approximately a 5.7% increase in voter registration since the 2018 general election, where data from the Secretary of State shows that there were 109,103 Yolo County registered voters in September of that year.
“The increased registration figures are likely the result of two factors: one, the full implementation of the Department of Motor Vehicle registration program and two, the increased interest in this particular Presidential Election,” Salinas said.
The difference between the 85,457 voters registered under a political party vs. the 115,260 mailed ballots is also due to the number of people who have declined to state a party preference. A rough count as of Tuesday morning from the Elections Office showed that figure was in excess of 28,000 people.
On Tuesday, Salinas also noted that there will undoubtedly be some overlaps in mailed ballots with some individuals receiving more than one ballot or ballots with different names or addresses. This is normal, he explained, as the county — like other counties across the state and nation — works to clean up registration rolls.
If people do get multiple ballots, or those that don’t bear their names, Salinas encourages people to let the Election’s Department know so they can go to work and take care of the problem.
He also stressed that if people hear of a person “voting twice,” to let his office of the District Attorney’s Office know because it’s a felony that punishable by imprisonment or fines.
Studies have found, however, that both across California and in the United States as a whole there are so few people voting more than once that it’s statistically insignificant.
As for the ballots themselves, every vote-by-mail ballot comes with a firstclass postage paid return envelope.
California has extended the time for completed voteby-mail ballots to arrive back to county elections officials. Completed vote-bymail ballots will be processed and counted as long as they are postmarked on or before Election Day and received by county elections officials no later than Nov. 20.
Voters can also return their completed vote-bymail ballots to any ballot drop box, voting location, or county elections office.
Salinas added that a dozen drop box locations will be available for 28 days and Voter Assistance Centers which will be open for three days prior to Election Day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day.
“Yolo County is preparing for this election to be one of the highest turnouts in a generation,” Salinas emphasized.
Voters are encouraged to take the following steps:
• Sign-up for vote-by-mail ballot tracking at WheresMyBallot.sos.ca.gov. Voters who sign-up will receive automated notifications about their vote-by-mail ballots by email, text, or voice call.
• Make a plan for voting. With the COVID-19 pandemic, voters are encouraged to vote early this year, and vote-by-mail if possible. Social distancing and other health guidelines may lead to longer than normal lines on Election Day.
• Make sure you sign and date the back of your vote-by-mail ballot return envelopes. Every voter’s signature on the vote-bymail ballot return envelope is compared against the voter’s registration record. If a signature is missing or does not match the registration record, elections officials will reach out to the voter to try and resolve the matter. If the voter does not respond and provide the missing or corrected signature, the ballot will not count.
California has registered a record-high of 21 million voters this year — the highest rate of registration since the 1940 election — according to a report from voter data firm Political Data
Inc., according to the Sacramento Bee.
According to the report, nearly two-thirds of the new registrations are millennials or Generation Y, born after 1996. Young voters represent about 37% of total registrants, while baby boomers — those born between 1946 and 1964 — represent 29% of total registrations.
Secretary of State Alex Padilla has also announced that California surpassed the milestone of 21 million active registered voters just 60 days before Election Day and 32 days before mail voting begins.
The deadline to register to vote in California is Oct. 19.