Election materials on the way and voting is on for the June Primary

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The U. S. Postal Service is receiving ballots from county election offices and voters can begin casting their ballots with many options in front of them.

In Santa Barbara County there are 235,000 registered voters as of last week.

Everyone will be receiving a mail-in ballot for the June 7 Primary Election.

Starting this morning they could also go to an election office counter and request their ballot, vote it and turn it in. They can also hold it and wait until another time up to 8 p.m. on election night.

The ballots have a bar code and once a ballot is returned and scanned, no other ballot for that voter can be accepted.

The vote-by-mail election has made voting easier for the public.

Not only do they only have to drop it off in a mail box, there are special voting drop boxes countywide with secure slots for ballots. They are cleared out daily.

At the post office, when ballots are returned they are sent directly to a special site for pick up by elections officials.

Equipment at the county elections offices verify signatures before the envelopes are open and the ballots are accepted.

Any ballot that is not signed by the voter or if the signature does not match what is on record, with be set aside and the voter will be contacted to clear up the issue.

This election will have a 20-inch ballot in Santa Barbara County, mainly because of the numerous candidates running for Governor.

That's the longest ballot in the county's history.

For more information go to: Santa Barbara County Elections

There you will find information for:

· Important notices pertaining to the election;

· Key Dates and Events

· Polling Place look-up tool

· List of polling places and precincts consolidated at polling places

· List of official ballot drop boxes

· Link to State Voter Information Guide

· Information contained in the County Voter Information Guide

· How to check your registration status

· Information on voting by mail

· Information on voting at the polls