SLO County Voters Asked to Mail Ballots At Least One Week Before Special Election on November 4
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) – It is two weeks out from a special statewide election Nov. 4 of this year and some important information on how to make sure your vote is counted is shared below.
According to the County of San Luis Obispo Clerk-Recorder's Office, the U.S. Postal Service stated that people who live more than 50 miles from a postal hub should not assume their return envelope will be postmarked the day they mail it.
Every single voter in San Luis Obispo County lives more than 50 miles from the U.S. Postal Service hub in Goleta and that means if you want your vote to be counted, you must mail your ballot at least one week before Election Day stated the County Clerk-Recorder's Office.
"If you want to see your vote included in Election Night totals, remember that mail ballots received before Election Day will be processed and tabulated and included in the first set of unofficial results released at 8pm," explained San Luis Obispo Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano. "Mail ballots received at the polls or by mail between November 4 and November 11 (and postmarked by November 4) will be counted after Election Day, during the official canvass."
If you do not make that deadline to ensure your return envelope is postmarked properly, you should take your ballot to an official ballot drop box.
While ballots can be received up to seven days after an election and still be counted, ballots that are not postmarked by Election Day will not be counted.
Below is the location of all official ballot drop box locations in San Luis Obispo County courtesy of the Office of Clerk-Recorder.
This special election cycle only has one question -Proposition 50- and because of that, there are only 45 polling locations compared to the 70 open during the November 2024 general election cycle.
You can check your polling location by checking the stub at the top of your ballot or looking it up here.
You can still vote in-person on Election Day even if you are mailed a ballot.
You are asked to bring your mail in ballot with you to a voting location on the day of the election and a poll worker will give you a poll ballot detailed the Clerk-Recorder's Office.
If you don't bring your mail ballot, you can still vote on the day of the special election. A poll worker will have to contact the Elections Office to confirm that your mail ballot has not been returned explained the Clerk-Recorder's Office.
Due to the necessity of checking that each mailed ballot has not been received on Election Day, the Elections Office asks that in-person voters be patient while poll workers work to confirm ballot status throughout the day on Nov. 4.
If you have not registered to vote you can register from now until 8 p.m. on Election Day, but you will have to come in-person to the Elections Office in San Luis Obispo or the satellite office in Atascadero which opens on Oct. 27 noted the Clerk-Recorder's Office.
On Election Day, conditional registration and ballots will also be available at every polling location added the Clerk-Recorder.
As of Tuesday of this week, more than 20 percent of all mailed ballots have already been returned and processed shared the Office of Clerk-Recorder.
You can check out the latests statistics and official results of the special election as well as voter information and other election details here.
