Ventura County election officials offer residents way to track vote-by-mail ballot status
On the eve before the midterm election deadline, voters are already flocking to the polls and dropping off their ballots.
“I didn’t want to mess with tomorrow,” said Steven Cass, a voter from the city of Ventura.
“We have two boxes here at the government center,” said Miranda Nobriga, Ventura County clerk recorder’s office public information officer. “We have a drive up option, so no more needing to find parking to return your ballot. You can actually just drive up and drop it off, and there is also a walk up ballot box.”
Jay Andersen is a first-time voter during a midterm election.
“I just think there is a lot of stuff going on in politics that are more important to me now than it has been in the past,” said Andersen.
He is just one of many who decided to drop off their ballot at the government center. For thousands of others, they have mailed it in, unable to know if it was received, until now.
“There is a myth that not every vote counts and we want voters to know that they can check our website and see that confirmation that their vote was processed,” said Nobriga.
The “Track My Ballot” option was created five years ago, giving voters a chance to spy on their ballot.
“It will show when their ballot was processed and when it was received and proceeded by our agency,” said Nobriga. “It’s fairly new. Not everyone in the state does it. So it is just an extra confirmation for voters so they can feel that their vote counted and their voice is heard.”
The option is on the Ventura County website at www.venturavote.org under the “Track My Ballot” tab. It is only available for vote-by-mail voters, which is nearly 66% of Ventura County.
“We have record voter registration this year,” said Nobriga. “We have 448,000 registered voters in Ventura County so we are expected a really good turnout for this election. We have issued over 300,000 vote-by-mail ballots and to date, we have received over 100,000 returned voted ballots.”
