Merced County voters returning early ballots in far greater numbers than 2016 election
Although there’s no crystal ball to determine who will win federal, state and local seats for the Nov. 3 election, it’s already clear that Merced County voters are casting their ballot — and in far greater numbers than the last presidential election.
The Merced County Registrar of Voters Office has already counted 25,166 ballot envelopes, as many residents have opted to vote early. During the same period prior to the 2016 presidential election, Merced County voters had only turning in 18 early ballots for the 2016 election.
Furthermore, the latest count is more than double the 11,106 ballots the Merced County Registrar of Voters Office had received 13 days before the March 2020 primary election.
Registrar Barbara Levey told the Sun-Star her office has begun verifying signatures on the envelopes and processing ballots, so the votes can begin to be counted later this week. “We’re thrilled that people have turned their ballots in early and hopefully they’ll continue to do so,” she said.
All 116,200 registered voters in Merced County were sent in a mail-in ballot. Almost 22% have been returned through the mail or deposited in ballot boxes scattered throughout the county as of Wednesday morning, with 13 days left before the election..
There were around 104,400 registered voters in Merced County for the March primary election, Levey said.
Residents had until Oct. 20 to register to vote for this November election. “We’ve been encouraging people to vote early, when they feel comfortable voting,” Levey said. “The message statewide has been the same to vote early.”
The move to the California Voter’s Choice Act, where all voters get a ballot by mail, has given people an opportunity to vote early.
The numbers are similar around the state. There were 4.5 million ballots, which accounts for 21% of the total ballots, returned statewide as of Oct. 17, according to Political Data Inc., a voter information tracker.
California went over the 3 million mark in returned ballots Oct. 17. That’s three times the number returned in 2016, the firm tweeted. The percentage of registered Democrats who returned ballots (25%) slightly outpaces the Republican returns (18%), according to numbers from Political Data. Just over 17 million ballots remain unaccounted for.
Where to Vote
Registered voters can mark the ballot they received by mail and send them right back without postage. Merced County Elections will also provide 13 Voting Assistance Centers spread out across the county.
The centers will allow voters to drop off their ballots, replace lost or damaged ballots and access services like language assistance or accessible ballot marking devices. Centers will also allow for registration and on-site voting.
Voting Assistance Centers will be open Oct. 31 to Nov. 3. There locations will be:
- Atwater Community Center (760 E. Bellevue Road) in Atwater
- Del Hale Hall (931 Center Street) in Dos Palos
- Al Gomon Community Center (745 Linden Avenue) in Gustine
- Livingston Veteran Memorial Building (1605 7th Street) in Livnigston
- Los Banos Community Center (645 7th Street) in Los Banos
- College Greens Park Scripps Building (1815 Scripps Drive) in Los Banos
- Department of Child Support Services (3368 N. Highway 59, Suite 1) in Merced
- Merced College Theater Lobby (3600 M Street) in Merced
- Merced County Fairgrounds Pavilion (900 Martin Luther King Way) in Merced
- Delhi Veterans Memorial Building (9799 Stephens Street) in Delhi
- Hilmar Grange (8188 Lander Avenue) in Hilmar
- Planada Community Center (9167 Stanford Avenue) in Planada
- Snelling Community Recreation Building (3325 E. Merced Falls) in Snelling
Ballots can also be dropped off at the eight official ballot drop boxes in Merced County.
The following locations will be open three days prior to the election and on Election Day for early voting:
For more information visit www.co.merced.ca.us
This story was originally published October 22, 2020 at 11:05 AM.
