Ballots can be cast before Tuesday at the registrar’s office or at four new county sites.

Even though California’s 2020 primary election is two days away, voting in San Diego County is well under way.

Nearly 300,000 voters returned their mail ballots to the San Diego County Registrar of Voters as of Friday morning.

Yet Michael Vu, the county’s registrar of voters, is encouraging more voters to get a jump on Election Day by casting ballots today or Monday, at the registrar’s office or at four new satellite registrar locations.

“If you are not registered to vote and want to participate, put it on your to-do list to get to the registrar’s office or the satellite offices this weekend,” Vu said by phone Friday. “If you can’t do that, get to your assigned polling location on Election Day.”

Tuesday’s election will be one of the most complex elections in San Diego history. Here’s what voters need to know to make voting easier.

Where/how to cast your ballot

This year in an effort to stave off long lines on Election Day, the registrar has opened four satellite locations. There the registrar staff will have access to the voter file and can ensure voters get the ballot that is specific to their home address.

The offices are open today and Monday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Residents can check the wait times of various locations on the registrar’s website, sdvote.com. The satellite offices are:

• Chula Vista: 690 Oxford St. • Spring Valley: 8735 Jamacha Blvd.

• Carmel Mountain Ranch: 10152 Rancho Carmel Drive.

• San Marcos: 3 Civic Center Drive.

Voters also have other more traditional methods at their disposal to cast ballots.

If you are registered to vote by mail you should have received your ballot. The ballots have prepaid postage.

They also can return the ballots to the registrar’s office, one of the satellite locations or one of 61 mail ballot drop-off locations, which can be found on the registrar’s website as well as in the mail package with the ballots.

Currently about 73 percent of San Diego County’s voters — about 1.3 million people — cast ballots by mail.

Voters, including those with mail ballots, also have the option of voting at their designated polling site. However, if you are a mail ballot voter, you will want to bring the ballot with you to the polling place, registrar’s office or satellite offices to streamline the process.

Regardless of what method voters settle on to cast ballots, the registrar’s message is the same: “Vote early .... Lines are only going to get longer from here on out,” Vu said.

That is because same-day voter registration will be available at every polling location, potentially slowing things down on Election Day.

Nonpartisans voting for president

Another thing voters should be aware of Tuesday, voters who are registered as nonpartisans will be able to vote in the Democratic presidential primary.

This year the Democratic Party, the American Independent Party and the Libertarian Party will allow any voters registered to these parties to weigh in on each other’s presidential nominees. But the Republican Party, the Green Party and the Peace and Freedom Party are allowing only their own registered voters to choose from their presidential candidates.

Voters are allowed to vote in only one party’s primary.

If nonpartisan voters want to vote in person for a Democratic candidate in the primary, they can go to their assigned polling location on Election Day, or to the registrar’s office or a satellite office on or just before Election Day and request a cross-over ballot — the noparty preference/nonpartisan version of the Democratic Party ballot, which will include Democratic candidates.

A nonpartisan mail ballot voter who wants to do this should bring their mail ballot to their polling location or to the registrar’s office or satellite office to streamline the process.

More than 300,000 vote-by-mail voters were sent nonpartisan versions of the ballot that do not include a presidential ballot, Vu said, adding that vote-by-mail voters should check their ballots to make sure they have the option they want.

“If you do not see the presidential ballot, get to a satellite location or the registrar’s office now to avoid a line on Election Day,” Vu said.

About election night results

With or without long lines, it’s highly unlikely that the outcome of every race will be clear by the end of the night.

In the 2018 general election, about 43 percent of the total votes were reported after Election Day.

That’s largely because mail ballots still needed to be counted — many of which didn’t come in until the day of the election or after.

Ballots postmarked by Election Day are legally required to be counted.

There also were about 100,000 provisional ballots that needed to be verified and counted.

This year, mail ballot voting continues to be prominent in San Diego County, although voters don’t always return their ballots promptly.

More than 1.3 million voters were registered to receive a mail ballot, but only about 300,000 mail ballots have been returned to the registrar.

Because voters can register on Election Day at every polling location, there’s an added potential for the number of provisional ballots to increase, potentially adding more time to the count.

In general, experts warn that election results may change between the time voters go to bed Tuesday night and when they wake up Wednesday morning.