Didn’t get a mail-in ballot? You can still register to vote! The deadline to register is October 19th. Register online now. If you miss the deadline, you can vote provisionally on election day (Nov 3rd). You can check your registration status here.
In an email yesterday evening, Assistant Solano County Registrar of Voters John Gardner confirmed that “ballots are being mailed on Saturday 9/26.” Gardner added, “All ballots will be delivered to the post office at the same time for delivery.”
In years past, we might then assume that our ballots would arrive in our mailboxes on Monday, September 28. Given recent national stories about post office slow deliveries, we will have to watch and see.
Three ways to return your ballot early! (…and then there’s November 3)
Cast your ballot RIGHT AWAY: Mail it back on the same day you get it, maybe Monday or Tuesday, September 28 or 29. Return it ANYTIME via US Postal Service (postage paid).
If you wait a week, you can drop it off in person beginning Monday, October 5: There are 15 NO CONTACT DROP BOXES (inside office buildings). Here’s the list on the Solano County website, including City Clerks’ offices in all 7 Solano cities.
I hope you don’t wait until October 29, but if you do… There are 10 NO CONTACT CURBSIDE DROP-OFF LOCATIONS. For 5 days before election day, beginning on Thursday October 29, and continuing on Oct. 30, 31, Nov. 2 and Nov. 3, you can drop off ballots “Curbside.” (Stay in your car, hand ballot to pollworkers.) Here’s the list of at least one in each city, on the County website.
And there’s 4 options on ELECTION DAY, Tuesday, November 3:
NOT RECOMMENDED: It’s still possible to mail your ballot. If (and that’s a big IF) the post office postmarks it on Nov. 3, it will be valid and counted. Please DON’T do this! I wouldn’t mail my ballot at all, but if you must, I’d say do it at least 2 weeks prior to election day – by October 20.
The office building drop-off locations will still be available. List of locations.
The curbside drop-off locations will still be available. List of locations.
And there’s the good old In-Person voting at your local polling place. Your polling place location will be printed on your ballot. Note that some polling places may have changed since the last election. To plan ahead, here is the County’s list of 100 polling places. Better yet, to look up your location using your home address, go to this page on the County website: solanocounty.com/depts/rov/sample_ballot_polling_place_lookup.asp
Roger Straw, The Benicia Independent
Oh, and on a personal note… I am clearly encouraging everyone to vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Donald Trump is unfit in so many ways, a disaster already, and a threat to our democracy if returned for another 4 years. Dems, GOPs and Independents please unite and do the right thing – Trump and Trumpism have got to go in a landslide victory for Biden/Harris!
It has become increasingly clear that everyone needs to VOTE EARLY as soon as mail-in ballots arrive in late September.
The one thing that has been worrying me is that the Solano County Registrar of Voters office plans to VERIFY MY SIGNATURE before counting my ballot.
What? My signature has devolved into an indecipherable scrawl! And it ain’t what it used to be!
Today I discovered that the Registrar has posted a form that allows us to UPDATE OUR SIGNATURE. This could be important – and timely!
So check this out today. Here’s the Registrar’s invitation and a link to the form you can fill out. The form contains good instructions.
All vote by mail ballots are to be signed by the voter. This signature must match your signature used when you registered to vote. If you would like to update your signature, please fill outthis form and return it to our office. We will update your signature based on the information provided.
Drop the form off at Solano county Registrar of Voters Office, 675 Texas St., Suite 2600 (Map). OR… the form contains instructions for scanning and returning it by email attachment. Or I suppose if you are really EARLY, you could mail it!
VOTE in EARLY OCTOBER! Let’s elect Joe and Kamala BY A LANDSLIDE!
Solano County published its list of Ballot Return and Voting Addresses sometime before August 8. The document listed curbside ballot dropboxes at 8 locations in the County on Oct. 29-Nov. 3.
Locations included two each in Fairfield, Vacaville and Vallejo, one in Dixon and one in Suisun City.
Postal Distress, Pat Bagley, The Salt Lake Tribune
On August 17, the listing added two new locations, one in Benicia and one in Rio Vista. Reliable sources say the new locations were in response to “concerns that have been coming up with USPS.”
Curbside ballot dropboxes will be open on Thursday, Oct. 29 until Tuesday, Nov. 3, 8am to 5pm., including Saturday, plus 7am to 8pm on Election Day.
You can – and maybe SHOULD – return your ballot earlier. Earlier options are detailed here.
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