Early voting is underway in the Nov. 8 Presidential General Election, which features a full ballot of national, statewide, regional and local candidates, as well as a host of state propositions and local measures.
The Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters office opened an early voting center at its offices Oct. 11 to mark the first day of the early voting period, and mailed about 585,000 ballots to voters throughout the county who requested to vote by mail.
“Voters from any precinct in the county may come to our office or one of the other Early Voting Centers to cast a ballot or drop off a voted mail ballot,” Registrar of Voters Shannon Bushey said. “We are also offering 54 ballot dropoff sites throughout the county and five drive-thru ballot drop-off sites, where voters can cast their voted ballots without getting out of their vehicles.”
The registrar’s office is located at 1555 Berger Drive in San Jose. Early voters can drop their filled out ballots in a drop box outside the front door, according to registrar’s staff.
There is also an Early Voting Center in Gilroy, at the Wheeler Community Room, 250 West Sixth Street.
Bushey added, “We have worked hard to expand voting opportunities throughout Santa Clara County. We want voters to use the voting method that best fits their schedule.”
As in all elections since November 2015, the registrar’s office includes a postage-paid return envelope with every mail ballot. In previous elections, voters had to pay the cost of return postage, which frequently exceeded a single first-class stamp.
In fact, Santa Clara is only one of two counties in the state to feature prepaid postage for mail ballots, according to the registrar.
Early voters can cast their ballots one of three ways: drop off ballots at one of six early voting centers throughout the county (including the registrar’s main office in San Jose and the center in Gilroy); drop off completed ballots at one of 54 drive-thru sites throughout the county (including the Morgan Hill Library, Morgan Hill City Hall and the Morgan Hill Transit Center at Main and Hale avenues); or by mailing their ballots using the postage-paid return envelope the registrar’s office provided.
The deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 8 election is Oct. 24. To register or check your registration status, visit the registrar’s website at sccvote.org.
A voter should complete a new registration form if he or she has moved, changed a name, or would like to change his or her political party preference, according to registrar’s staff.
To register to vote in the Nov. 8 election, view the ballot content (local, state, national, regional races as well as state propositions and local measures) and see a complete list of early voting centers in Santa Clara County, visit sccvote.org.
