With ballots for the upcoming election arriving in mailboxes, drop boxes and early voting sites are opening up soon.
Voters started receiving their mail-in ballots this week, and many people are already turning them in.
Some people voting early in San Luis Obispo said they felt it was better to turn in their votes now.
"Well we got our ballots yesterday in the mail and we filled them out this morning and we wanted to make sure that they got safely to the registrar of voters so we decided to bring them down ourselves,” said Henry Prager.
Voting early is a recommendation given every election season.
Two voting sites at the County Clerk-Recorder's Offices in San Luis Obispo and Atascadero are already being prepped to open on Monday, Oct. 5.
"We are setting them up as if it's one of our voting locations or one of our Voter Service Centers during the four days of voting," said SLO County Clerk-Recorder Tommy Gong.
By doing this, poll workers can be trained on what this year’s voting process will look like.
"I felt most comfortable turning in my ballot myself,” said voter Scott Taylor.
Although Gong says the safest way to vote this year due to the pandemic is through the mail, early voting locations will be open for those who prefer to vote in-person.
"Voters who have to come in-person, for instance, they might have not received their ballot, they lost their ballot, they need to use our accessible voting equipment here - certainly they can come in," Gong said.
For those who do decide to vote in person starting next week, stations will be ready with social distancing guidelines in place to ensure people's safety.
Ballot drop boxes and voting sites will also be open on Monday in Santa Barbara.
You can find a list of drop boxes that will be open in SLO County starting Monday here.
Santa Barbara drop box locations can be found here.
