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More than 40 percent of Santa Barbara County voters voted early

Elections office busy day before polls open in Santa Barbara County
SB elections office
Tracy Lehr / KEYT

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif.

A constant stream of voters dropped their ballots into official drop boxes the day before Election Day.

Nick Krohta of Santa Barbara rode a high tech skateboard to the ballot box.

"I needed to vote when I saw certain commercials, and things that were popping up."

Some people brought their children.

Angela Castallanos said she brought her young daughters to the last election, too.

"I just want to let both my girls know how important it is to vote, and that we have the opportunity to vote here."

The elections office was just as busy.

Butch Carter said, "I walked in there and had all my signature on there and everything so I think it went well."

Deborah Kahny of Santa Barbara voted, too but said she was upset. She said she thinks someone took her mail-in ballot and used it while she was out of town.

She said she did not support voting by mail and thought everyone should have to show an I-D.

The election staff told her they would have research her suspicion.

Another voter said he was upset over a KTLA report that computers showed a woman who wished to vote had already voted in Woodland Hills, but he said that didn't happen to him.

Santa Barbara County Registrar of Voters Joe Holland said his number one tip is to bring your mail in ballot with you if you intend to vote in person.

Holland said voters will be able to quickly surrender that ballot for the kind of ballot used in-person at the polls.

When Ventura County Elections office opened more than 50 polling places on Saturday some computer glitches had to be fixed, but poll workers said no one was turned away

Voters concerned about their vote may use a bar code assigned to their name to track their ballot.

Holland said 100,000 people out of 238,000 registered voters in Santa Barbara County had already voted by Monday afternoon. That's more than 40 percent.

Voters said the turnout is important.

Elvia Silva said, "I just want to get out early and make sure my vote is counted."

Mark Wiscomb said, "It's the will of the people, so we do what we have to do."

He said another gubernatorial election will happen in a year regardless of the outcome.

There are 30 drop boxes and 54 polling places in Santa Barbara County.

The polls will be open from  7 a.m. To 8 p.m on Tuesday.

For more information visit www.sbcvote.com or call 1-800-SBC-VOTE (1-800-722-8683)

Article Topic Follows: Politics

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Tracy Lehr

Tracy Lehr is a reporter and the weekend anchor for News Channel 3-12. To learn more about Tracy, click here

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