With a mail-in ballot sent to every voter registered in California’s gubernatorial recall election, many want to ensure their vote is received on time and counted.
Voters can use a tool rolled out for the last presidential election: WheresMyBallot.sos.ca.gov. It lets voters track their mail ballot from the time it’s sent to them until it’s been accepted and counted by their local elections office.
The site will also let you sign up for email, text or phone call updates on your ballot’s status.
If you haven’t yet mailed your ballot, should you take it directly to a polling location? Not necessarily.
All ballots postmarked by Sept. 14, the date of the election, will be accepted. If you want to turn it in using a secure drop box, you must do so by 8 p.m. on Sept. 14.
If you’d rather vote in person, each county has at least one vote center open at least four days prior to election day. Click here for a directory of early voting and ballot drop-off box locations.
For those who want to vote in person on election day, polling places will be open Sept. 14 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
If you haven’t registered yet, you still can. While the state deadline for pre-registration and receiving a mail-in ballot has passed, you can still complete same-day registration at any vote center up to or on Sept. 14.
Mail-in voting could become a permanent figure of elections in California after the state Senate last week advanced a bill to ensure all registered voters get mail ballots before every election.
More than 15 million mail-in ballots were submitted in California for the 2020 presidential election, accounting nearly 87% of all ballots submitted in the state. And of the mail ballots received, 99.4% were verified and counted, state election officials said.
The leading reason for a ballot being rejected was the signature not matching that on the voter’s record. In other cases, the ballot arrived too late or wasn’t signed at all.
Voters can find more information about the recall election on the California Secretary of State’s website.