Sample Ballots, Voter Guides Mailed Out for June 5 Primary

Voter information guides and sample ballots for the statewide June 5 primary are on their way to Santa Clara County mailboxes, election officials announced Friday.

The county Registrar of Voters (ROV) printed about a million guides in English, Chinese, Spanish, Tagalog and Vietnamese for the primary election. The guides contain voting instructions, a sample ballot and descriptions of all local candidates and measures.

Each voter’s assigned polling place will be printed on the back of the pamphlet, officials said. In addition, any registered voter in the county can cast their ballot at any one of eight early voting centers starting on May 26. For those who want to vote even earlier, they can drop off their ballots at the ROV office starting on May 7.

Click here to look up the locations for those early voting centers.

Election officials urge voters to review the guides carefully. Mistakes can delay the final count, so it can be helpful to practice on the sample ballot provided in with the informational guide.

The info guide includes a vote-by-mail application, which can be used for this election only or to sign up as a permanent mail-in voter. Applications are also available online.

Mail ballots can be returned free of charge. Historically, voters had to foot the cost of postage, which typically exceeded the cost of a first-class stamp. Santa Clara County was the second in the state to offer prepaid postage for mail ballots.

“Our office is passionate about increasing voter turnout,”ROV Shannon Bushey said in a press release, “and we hope that it makes it easier to vote by providing prepaid postage for all vote-by-mail ballots.”

Residents must be already registered to vote in order to receive the voter info guide. The last day to register for the June primary is May 21. Online applications will be accepted as long as they get submitted before midnight on that date. Paper applications will be accepted as long as they get postmarked by that date. Applications are available at local libraries, city halls and other government offices.

About 837,200 people are registered to vote in this county.

For more information, contact the ROV at 408.299.8683 and toll-free at 866.430.8683, or visit their website at www.sccvote.org.

3 Comments

  1. Shannon Bushey and her crew are notoriously inefficient at counting the votes by the current number of voters in a timely manner, and she wants to increase the turnout?

  2. No surprise that the County would easily pony up the return postage for mail in ballots, it literally has money to burn. Too much to know what to spend it all on.

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