We answered some of your questions about voting in the 2020 election.
 | | A vote center at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.Mike Blake/Reuters |
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After I wrote about mail-in voting last week, I received a number of great questions from readers who were still flummoxed over the process. After all, voting this year has changed drastically from previous years, partly because of the pandemic and partly because of additional counties participating in the election model laid out by the Voter’s Choice Act. |
Here are some of the most common questions asked by readers. |
Does returning one early mean that it will be counted early? |
“Early arriving vote-by-mail ballots are typically the first ballots counted,” said Chris Miller of the California secretary of state’s office. |
Neal Kelley, chief election official for Orange County, told me that he will start mailing ballots on Oct. 5. |
“If a voter gets it on Oct. 6 and they drive it down to my office and deliver it, it’s already going to start in the system to be processed,” he said. |
You can track your ballot by signing up for the “Where’s My Ballot?” tool. It will notify you via phone or email when your ballot has been counted. |
Returning ballots early also ensures that officials have time to send them back if there are discrepancies, like missing or mismatching signatures. |
While officials can process ballots before November, vote counts, however, cannot be released until 8 p.m. on Election Day. |
Do you have to turn in your mail-in ballot if you’re voting in person? |
You should bring your mail-in ballot with you just in case. Whether you are required to surrender it depends on where you live. |
This year, over four million people live in 15 counties that are participating in the Voter’s Choice Act model, in which vote centers should be able to print out ballots and void mail-in ones for in-person voting. |
“Vote centers have electronic poll books and ballot-on-demand printers, which allow poll workers to verify the voter’s participation history and provide them their specific ballot type,” Mr. Miller said. |
However, it’s a good idea to trade in your mail-in ballot even if you are using a vote center. |
“We strongly encourage voters who want to vote in person to bring their vote-by-mail ballot with them to surrender at the polls,” Mr. Miller said. |
If you are voting in person at a polling place, you should bring your mail-in ballot and hand it over to poll workers in exchange for a paper ballot. If you forget, you can still cast a provisional ballot, which will be processed and counted once election officials verify your registration. |
Where can I find the original signature that mail-in ballots are compared with? |
Voters’ signatures are collected when people register to vote and are stored in a statewide database. However, some readers wrote in saying they are worried that their mail-in ballots will be returned because of mismatched signatures. |
For people who registered online or through the Department of Motor Vehicles, your signature will be the same as what’s on your driver’s license or state I.D. |
Mr. Kelley said that he’s noticed that a lot of younger people tend to register this way. Handwritten signatures are more common among older voters. |
Here’s what else we’re following |
We often link to sites that limit access for nonsubscribers. We appreciate your reading Times coverage, but we also encourage you to support local news if you can. |
- An unusual confluence of weather conditions sent nearly 14,000 bolts of lightning into the dry, hot forests of Northern California in August. But that was only the beginning of a record fire season. [The New York Times]
- The Glass Fire, which has damaged or destroyed 17 wineries, is the most destructive wildfire America’s most famous wine region has ever faced. [San Francisco Chronicle]
- Supporters of President Trump in California are struggling to process his Covid-19 diagnosis. [Los Angeles Times]
- Harvey Weinstein faces six additional sexual assault charges in Los Angeles and prosecutors said they would seek Mr. Weinstein’s extradition from prison in New York to face the charges. [The New York Times]
- A rescue team recovered the body of a New Jersey man who died in Lake Tahoe. The recovery was made 1,565 feet underwater, the deepest ever recorded at the lake. [The New York Times]
- Protesters in Los Angeles supporting Armenia in its conflict with Azerbaijan temporarily blocked the 101 Freeway in both directions on Saturday night. [Los Angeles Times]
- The Orange County music label Burger Records folded after allegations of sexual misconduct involving dozens of bands were made public. [KCRW]
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Jill Cowan grew up in Orange County, went to school at U.C. Berkeley and has reported all over the state, including the Bay Area, Bakersfield and Los Angeles — but she always wants to see more. Follow along here or on Twitter, @jillcowan. |
California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley. |
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