Millions of California vote-by-mail ballots unreturned

[Joanne98]

Source: Mercury News

SACRAMENTO -- Millions of Californians have not yet returned their vote-by-mail ballots, and the flood of returns expected on election day could delay results in tight races, officials said Monday.

The state's 58 counties had reported receiving just under 3 million absentee ballots as of early afternoon Monday -- less than 40 percent of the 7.6 million ballots requested statewide for the general election, according to the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials.

In some counties, vote-by-mail is expected to exceed in-person voting.

That means a huge number of last-minute returns will not be processed Tuesday, and the most competitive races may remain too close to call.



Read more: http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_16499666?nclick_check=1

[elleng]

1. and then there's Alaska, where write-ins will surely delay final tally,

so we're in for another WEEKS-LONG wait???

[Richard D]

2. I got mine . . .

. . . but the ballot was oddly missing. I'll be going to polls in a few minutes.

[alp227]

3. I dropped of my mail-in ballot at City Hall yesterday afternoon.

Responding to this story, I'll say that I can sleep early tonight rather than desperately follow the California results. Tomorrow I've got a computer engineering midterm that's my top priority. I wonder if voters in other states are voting by flocks in mail too.

[Frances]

4. Turned in absentee ballot about 9am

I had to sign a sheet of paper when I turned in the ballot at the polling place. There were about 20 names ahead of mine at 9am. (Scotts Valley, CA)

[still_one]

5. There is absolutely no excuse for absentee ballots NOT to return the ballots before election day

we had plenty of time to consider the issues. I returned my a week and a half ago

They better not have lost those ballots though

[jberryhill]

6. Sure there is....

People may have requested them in the belief they would be unavailable that day, and then their plans changed and they decided to vote in person.

[joeglow3]

21. How do they know someone doesn't double dip???

When I go vote after work, I sign a book and that is it. How do they know I did not request an absentee ballot, fill it out and also go vote in person?

[Retrograde]

23. The county knows who it sent the ballots to

Each polling place has a list of registered voters for that location, which is posted for all to see (in case you want to check up on your neighbors, or if you want to target your GOTV campaign). People who request absentee ballots are marked as having done so: the poll worker is supposed to check so they don't get another one.

Now, people can claim that they never received theirs. In that case they're allowed to cast a provisional ballot, and if it turns out that they did already send in their mailed one (and yes, they do check the address and recorded signatures) they can be prosecuted for voter fraud. I had a ballot go astray in the mail recently, and contacted the registrar for a replacement; I got a new one, which included an affidavit to sign swearing I was only voting once.

[hedgehog]

24. Around here your name is on the outside of the envelope -

they don't get opened until after Election Day so they get checked against the roll book from the polling place. If everything checks out, the outside envelope gets opened and the inside envelope which doesn't have your name on it goes into the stack to get counted.

[jberryhill]

25. Normally, that is done when they are counted

Some locations, of course, will vary.

But whether a registered voter voted by absentee ballot and in person is easily detected and disqualifies the absentee ballot.

[Xithras]

7. You have a lot of people like my mother in law...

She's a registered Democrat and gets her absentee ballots, but she doesn't live in a competetive district and tends to be very apolitical when there isn't an issue on the ballot that she really cares about. Half the time, she never bothers mailing the thing back.

I'm pretty sure she did this year though. She worked on Jerry Brown's 1974 campaign, and was happy to see him on the ballot again. Still, I didn't actually ask :\

[CreekDog]

18. I often turn in my absentee on Election Night at my polling place

and lots of people do.

excuse? what does that have to do with anything? as long as you vote on time, who cares?

[slackmaster]

8. I observed several people dropping off mail ballots at my polling place this morning

The San Diego County Registrar of Voters was on the radio warning people not to mail them today, because they'd arrive too late to be counted.

[K8-EEE]

11. Nooooo!!!

Wow they need to really do a campaign on that....it's RECEIVED BY not POSTMARKED BY!

[OnionPatch]

9. I never received mine in the first place.

I always vote mail-in and don't understand why I didn't get a ballot like I always do. I received the sample ballot and other voting materials, but no ballot. I'm heading to the polls later, though, and I intend to vote.

[K8-EEE]

10. IMPORTANT if you k now somebody who didn't get one

Or lost them or whatever, they can still vote! At their polling place, as long as they didn't use the absentee.

[xxqqqzme]

19. If you are registered as absentee,

but do not have a ballot to surrender to the poll worker, you will vote by provisional ballot. You will be given either a number to call or a number to enter online (depending on your county's system) to check the status of your provisional ballot. This procedure is covered in the poll worker's training.

I usually work the polls, first line of defense. Couldn't this time because I'm a candidate.

[OnionPatch]

20. Good to know.

I'm betting I'll have to vote on a provisional ballot. The term "provisional ballot" leaves a bad taste in my mouth for some reason. I hope my vote gets counted. I live in Riverside County, CA, so I'm a little uneasy about this, to say the least.

Good luck to you today! I hope your campaign is a success! :thumbsup:

[xxqqqzme]

27. Thank you but it didn't turn out

successful. Did you have to vote provisional? Did you get a number to call or can you check your ballot online?

[OnionPatch]

28. Oh, I'm really sorry to hear that.

:( That's a shame.

I didn't have to vote provisional. They had me on the rolls. Maybe I wasn't "permanent" absentee or whatever, although I've received an absentee ballot for the last four or five years without having to request one. :shrug: I'll have to check into that.

[cascadiance]

12. Perhaps California needs to study Oregon's vote by mail system to streamline it...

Many people just drop off their envelopes here on election day if they don't mail it in in advance. There have been reports that Oregon is expecting a 75% voter participation in this election. Perhaps if California went to a "double envelope" system like Oregon has it might help streamline this some. The outer envelope helps validate that the person is a proper voter, etc. and lets it be tabulated they voted. The inner envelope is where you stuff your ballot and preserves privacy as the only thing that preserves connection to the outer envelope info is the voter number etc. on the ballot.

[glitch]

15. That's what I do with my absentee ballot and I live in CA.

For the convenience of filling it out at home and the excitement of the polling precinct AND so I know for sure it got to the precinct.

[savalez]

13. The California vote-by-mail ballot states...

that you can drop it off at your local polling place or you can just vote at your polling place in lieu of returning the mail-in ballot.

Maybe (hopefully) people are opting to do that instead.

[xxqqqzme]

14. I rarely mail mine.

I drop it off at my polling place, which is, literally, across the street from my house. In CA you can drop you VBM ballot at any polling place in your county.

[nolabear]

16. Hey, how's this going to work if the GOP privatizes the mail system?

A shiver just ran down my spine.

[frylock]

17. i dropped my absentee ballot off at my polling station this morning

[sakabatou]

22. Same

[David__77]

26. I always drop mine off on election day at any polling station.

Perhaps that's unique in California. I prefer to get the ballot in the mail. You can drop it off in person at any polling place on election day. I don't trust the mail lol...