PUBLISHED 5/14/08 ---

Vote-by-mail ballots for the June 3 primary started going out to voters May 5. There’s a record number of them this time. That’s not a big surprise given the continuing upsurge in voter preference for that type of balloting.

But with new mail-ballot voters joining the ranks every election, it’s clear that voter education is a continuing challenge. The rules for voting via mail are a little different than they are for traditional precinct voting — and not just because one requires a stamp and one doesn’t.

If you’re going to use vote-by-mail ballots (also known as absentee ballots), and you feel you already have enough information to make intelligent choices, vote promptly.

This doesn’t just help out the county elections staff — who  must verify the legitimacy of each cast ballot, in addition to handling the tabulation — it might protect your vote.
That’s because your vote won’t count if you fail to sign the envelope your ballot comes in.

Vote early, and elections officials will have time to mail your ballot back to you so you can sign it.

But if your unsigned ballot is received less than five days before Election Day, officials won’t mail it back. They will make an effort to call you and advise you to come down to the elections office.

Vote-by-mail ballots received on Election Day will not be counted until the day after the election, since elections officials will have to turn their attention to live precinct voting. Vote-by-mail ballots received after Election Day — even if placed in the mail before Election Day — will not be counted at all.

The first Election Night tabulations that are announced shortly after 8 p.m., when the polls close, are all of the vote-by-mail ballots, except for the ones actually received on Election Day.

County elections officials say only a few early vote-by-mail ballots have been received thus far, suggesting an increased possibility that overall turnout will be light for this second primary. That’s most likely due to the fact there are no presidential candidates on the ballot in this primary. Some voters may simply be unaware there’s a second primary this year. In any case, by this time in advance of the February primary, vote-by-mail ballots were arriving  in considerably greater numbers.

That’s despite the fact vote-by-mail registration is up from just four months ago.

Permanent absentee ballots were distributed to 92,088 Kern County voters prior to the February primary; that number is up to 94,471 for the June primary. Those numbers are in addition to almost 21,400 absentees issued to people in vote-by-mail precincts, who have no other options.

Vote-by-mail ballot requests have nearly doubled in just two years. Election officials distributed 49,515 absentee ballots in June 2006.

Statewide, absentee voting has steadily moved upward over the last decade. A 2001 law made it possible for any Californian to register as a permanent vote-by-mail voter, meaning their ballots are automatically mailed to them every election. 

The deadline to register to vote in the June 3 primary is May 19. The last day to request a vote-by-mail ballot is May 27.