Ballots keep trickling in at the San Luis Obispo County Clerk Recorder’s Office.
“I wanted to make sure that it was counted and that it was here early enough, so there would be absolutely no dispute about the validity of my vote,” said Lara Cathcart, who turned in her ballot.
As they say why leave for tomorrow what you can do today?
“Because I might have plans over the weekend and might not be able to get to it by Tuesday,” said Jesus Nolasco, who turned in his ballot. “I also work Monday.”
Behind the scenes, a mighty group of workers getting a head start.
“Processing all the vote-by-mail ballots that have already come through our office, so we have done the signature verification, we have inspected them to make sure the ballots can be read through the system,” explained SLO County Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano.
These are the ballots that will give preliminary results on Nov. 8, 2022.
“First set of results that happen at 8 o’clock are those of the vote by mail ballot,” said Cano.
So far, the Santa Barbara County Clerk Recorder’s Office has received at least 41,011 ballots. For San Luis Obispo County, the number is about 50,000 ballots.
“The majority of those coming in by mail and then about 10% of them being dropped off at a drop box,” said Cano. “They are coming in slowly but surely; it is a very low turnout at this point, we’re less than 30% turnout and normally for a midterm general election we have about a 60-70% turnout.”
How can you make the process smoother?
“Make sure that they have signed the back of their envelope and that their signature is close to what they have on file,” recommended Cano.
Stick to black or blue ink when filling out your ballot.
“If voters want to vote on election day at a polling place please make sure that they go to their designated polling place, so their name appears on the roster,” said Cano.
Ballot counting will continue beyond Tuesday to include provisional ballots.
“We will still be able to process vote-by-mail ballots that were received in our office seven days past election day as long as they have that postmark on it that states that it was honored before election day,” added Cano.
The Atascadero and San Luis Obispo Election Offices will be open on Saturday, Nov. 5 from 9 AM to 1 PM. Voters can drop off their ballots in person or request a replacement ballot if needed.
