Santa Clara County Starts Mailing Out Voter Guides, Sample Ballots

Santa Clara County has started mailing out voter information guides for the Nov. 6 general election. The mailing will continue for two weeks until the county finishes printing one million guides in five languages.

Each informational pamphlet will cover all 144 contests and 275 ballot types, which is the most ballot types ever seen in a Santa Clara County general election, according to the Registrar of Voters (ROV).

The guides include voting instructions, a sample ballot and information about local candidates and measures. On the back is an address of the voter’s assigned polling place, which may have changed since the last election because a venue declined to be involved or because a city—like Santa Clara—switched from at-large to district-based voting.

Any registered voter can cast their ballot at the ROV office starting Oct. 9, or at an early voting center starting on Oct. 27. For a list of early voting locations, click here.

“The information guide is a vital tool for voters as they make their selections for the general election,” Registrar of Voters Shannon Bushey said in a news release. “We urge voters to take a comprehensive look at the guide—everything included is pertinent to the election specific to where they live.”

Vote-by-mail ballots will be mailed starting on Oct. 9 and can be returned free of charge. In past elections, voters had to foot the cost of stamps, but Santa Clara County became the second county in California to offer prepaid postage for mail-in ballots.

“It is the goal of our office to make voting as easy as possible,” Bushey said, “and providing the postage is one way we hope will help maximize turnout.”

The deadline to register to vote in the coming election is midnight on Oct. 22. That can be done online here. If you’re unsure of your status, click here to double-check.

Meanwhile, the ROV is still looking for more election officers to help staff the polling places come Nov. 6. For more information on how to apply, click here.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *