On the Eve of Election Day, Pace of Vote-by-Mail Balloting Picks Up in Santa Clara County

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One day before Election Day, the vote-by-mail returns picked up in Santa Clara County.

The county Registrar of Voters reported 67,914 mailed ballots returned on the weekend, as returns of the ballots mailed on Oct. 7 accelerated.  Still, at of the close of ballot counting Sunday, more than 60% of the ballots in Santa Clara County had not been returned.

Whether this portends traditionally high turnout in a presidential-year General Election remains to be seen. In 2020, at the height of the Covid 19 pandemic, 78.6% of voters in Santa Clara County cast ballots by mail in the presidential race -- more than 680,000 – when total voter registration was 1.02 million. The registrar’s office reported 419,345 mail ballots counted as of Nov. 3.  The California Secretary of State reported 1,048,723 registered voters in the county as Oct. 21.

Overall voter turnout in the county was 85% of registered voters in 2020. In the non-pandemic election of 2016, Santa Clara County's voter turnout was nearly 83%.

Republicans, the third-largest voting bloc in the county, were setting the pace in the mail ballot turnout, with nearly 43 percent of mailed ballots returned as of Sunday. Among Democrats, who outnumber Republicans by about 3-to-1, 40% of mail ballots were returned through Sunday. The county’s growing “No Party Preference” bloc, the second-largest in the county, lagged behind in returned mail ballots, with just 32%.

In Santa Clara County, 26 vote centers – including five libraries – opened Oct 26 for in-person voting. Voting at these sites will continue through Election Day. Another 79 vote centers opened Nov. 2 for four days. Here are the voting center locations:

Vote-by-mail ballots can be sent via the US Postal Service at no charge, or dropped in one of the many voting drop boxes scattered around the county. Here are the Drop Box locations.

Pre-election voter registration ended Monday, but prospective voters can still vote by completing Same-Day Voter Registration forms on Election Day and requesting a ballot in person. Here is how you can find out if you are registered to vote.

Three decades of journalism experience, as a writer and editor with Gannett, Knight-Ridder and Lee newspapers, as a business journal editor and publisher and as a weekly newspaper editor in Scotts Valley and Gilroy; with the Weeklys group since 2017. Recipient of several first-place writing and editing awards, California News Publishers Association.

5 Comments

  1. SJ Kulak

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    The Real Person!

    Author SJ Kulak acts as a real person and verified as not a bot.
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    voting by mail is straight up garbage

    get your fanny to the polls, vote in person, show your ID, you know

    democracy is on the ballot, don’t cheapen your most sacred rite

  2. Vacancy Vaquero

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    Author Vacancy Vaquero acts as a real person and verified as not a bot.
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    The Real Person!

    Author Vacancy Vaquero acts as a real person and verified as not a bot.
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    I’m confused by this: “269,307 mail ballots counted as of Oct. 29.”

    Does that mean there’s a running vote count accumulating somewhere? Is that count public information or is it confidential until 8 pm on Nov. 5? How many people get to know the confidential count?

    Or by “counted”, does that mean the number of ballots has been counted, but not yet the votes on the ballots? (These are questions about the Registrar’s process.)

    Also, the story refers to “mailed ballots”, “mail ballots” and “Vote-by-mail ballots”, but those references all include ballots turned in via drop boxes, right? (This question is about the Registrar’s nomenclature.)

  3. Time to be Honest

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    The Real Person!

    Author Time to be Honest acts as a real person and verified as not a bot.
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    Remember to vote YES on Prop 36!!!! And NO to Kamala Harris!!!!

  4. James Rowen

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    Author James Rowen acts as a real person and verified as not a bot.
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    The Real Person!

    Author James Rowen acts as a real person and verified as not a bot.
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    Kevin Park in Santa Clara has engaged Roger Lee for a mailer.

    Remember Roger Lee??
    He took Lee and Beddo and destroyed it due to his cocaine dealing in 1990s. Parl in 2020 enployed Jay Reed. SJ INSIDE reported Cortese firing Reed for perverse tweets.

    Wow

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