Showing posts with label mail in ballots. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mail in ballots. Show all posts

August 23, 2020

Vote by Mail (non USPS) ballot drop boxes and other LA County vote by mail info for the November 3 2020 election (specifically 90808 Long Beach info)

UPDATE 10/11/20: Beware of fake drop boxes for ballots at churches no less. See that story here. Only drop into boxes that look like this. Really GOP..really?

UPDATE 10/10/20: We spoke to a county worker collecting ballots at the Heartwell park county ballot drop box located below in the original post. Collections will happen 7 days a week at least once per day thru Nov 3 @ 8pm. So drop away.

UPDATE 10/2/20: Today via US Mail I received my actual ballot. My Fiancee did not. Everything else from the county we get at the same time. Also Jeffrey Pransky | Election Operations Bureau Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk,
finally responded to our questions via email (we did not see this information anywhere on their website so we are providing it below)

LAAG's Questions:

So there are two ways (county system and state system) to track your ballots return to your office. but how do voters know if their ballot is actually counted? The ballot tracking does not tell you that and that's actually more important.

We assume the ballot tracking methods also work if we dot use US mail...that is we drop them off at polling place or in the country drop boxes?
 
Also if voters ballot is not counted will they be notified in enough time to fix the alleged error? Is it possible that they can fix the error after Nov 3 2020?
 
How will voters be notified to make the correction? phone, email or US mail?

Answers from Jeffrey Pransky | Election Operations Bureau:

You will receive a message saying your ballot is on its way when your Vote By Mail packet is delivered to the US Postal Service. Ballots (with the exception of ballots for Military and Overseas voters) which have not yet been mailed to voters.
 
9/24 - Through the State Ballot Tracking system “Where’s My Ballot?” you will receive one of three possible notifications when the ballot is received and processed by our office – this notification will come whether you return it in-person at a vote center, by mail, or by drop box.
 i. Ballot Accepted (meaning we have received and counted your ballot)
 ii. Ballot Rejected (we have received your ballot but it will not be counted)
 iii. Ballot Rejected but Curable (your ballot is currently rejected, but may be counted if we receive more information).

You will be mailed the appropriate form to “cure” your ballot with a postage-paid return envelope. If you do not wish to mail the cure form back, you also have the option of returning it either in-person by Election Day to a Drop Box or Vote Center, or later by fax or email. You may also call our office and we will indicate which form you can download from our website, fill out and return to us. The deadline to return a cure form is November 28, 2020.

UPDATE 9/25/20: today we received via USPS our "official sample ballot" of 32 pages..but don't get excited yet. On the front it says "All registered voters will receive a vote by mail ballot". So this is mostly trash. Also got the 110 page voter information guide 2 days ago. Read that here ...but to get all the full text of all the propositions go here ...very lame they don't point that out clearly. Apparently not enough space in voter booklet to put the full text but for Prop 14.

Original Post:

So everyone can calm down now. Turns out in LA county we don't really need the post office that much to return vote by mail ballots. (post office still needed to get the ballot to you and for those people that cant get to these drop boxes or a polling place)[UPDATE: 9/11/20 the post office just sent this link to us today.] There will be 300+ of these vote by "mail" drop boxes throughout LA county. (And of course you can still walk in and drop off any ballots to any polling place/Vote Center in LA county as well; all the vote center locations and days/hrs of operation map) I happened to see one (picture) in Heartwell Park today located here. It was locked (as of Aug 23 2020) not allowing anything to be deposited. I am assuming that Postal Workers will NOT be collecting ballots from these drop boxes but rather LA County poll workers. Apparently the map of the 300 LA County drop box locations will be made available 30 days before the Nov 3 2020 election. What is not clear when these will be unlocked allowing you to deposit your ballot nor is it clear how often these will be checked for ballots.(I assume they will be unlocked soon after ballots are mailed out or or about Oct 5 2020 and will be checked daily after that date) They will close or last be collected at 8pm on election night Nov 3 (barring some catastrophe). This will be the link (live Oct. 2) to a map with where all the boxes will be located within LA county.

After returning your voted ballot via Drop Box (or by mail or walking it in to a vote center) you can check on line to make sure it was received and tallied through the county's Vote by Mail Status Tool. This tool will be available 30 days prior to Election Day. There is also another method provided by the state of California: Ballottrax. Why there are two methods is unclear. I guess to add more confusion to the already confusing process.

As I was curious (and because this information was not posted anywhere on the web two weeks ago) I asked LA county when the "vote by mail" (and or "absentee") ballots would be mailed out to voters and they told me (via this email VoteByMail@rrcc.lacounty.gov ) that they would be mailed out on Oct. 5, 2020. So If you don't get yours (in the US mail) within a week of that date you better take matters into your own hands and get a ballot. Start here. If you don't receive one in the mail the first thing to do is check to see you are registered to vote in LA County. You can use the state of CA site to see if you are registered to vote in any county and it will tell you which county. The deadline for registering by mail to vote is (postmarked by) Monday, October 19, 2020 You MUST register to vote in LA county in order to be eligible to vote in LA county in the Nov 2020 election.

The deadline to register in person to vote IN PERSON AT A POLLING PLACE in CA is election day Tuesday, November 3, 2020. Conditional voter registration is a safety net for Californians who miss the deadline to register to vote or update their voter registration information. Voters can use the conditional voter registration process from the day after the mail registration deadline (Oct 19, 2020) all the way through Election Day. Finding a polling place (now called "vote centers") is also relatively simple. Just go here after Oct 4 2020. Unlike prior years any LA county resident can vote or register in ANY LA county vote center regardless of your residence location (as long as its in LA county.)

Also this election (Nov 2020) the state will be ensuring that all registered voters in all 58 counties are mailed a "mail in/drop off" ballot (regardless if they were permanent absentee, occasional absentee or some other vote by mail category) This was part of The California Voter’s Choice Act passed in 2016. But for Nov 2020 due to the covid 19 pandemic the timeline was moved up to include all California counties, not just LA county and a few others.

We noted this bit of info that is also helpful with respect to absentee or mail in ballots in CA:

California does not require a copy of your ID in the ballot and a Notary or Witness Signatures on Return Envelope is NOT Required.

As for how Absentee Ballots Are Verified CA elections code 3019 is applicable which in summary says upon receipt of a vote-by-mail ballot, the elections official compares the signature on the identification envelope with either of the following to determine if the signatures compare: (1) The signature appearing on the voter's affidavit of registration or any previous affidavit of registration of the voter. (2) The signature appearing on a form issued by an elections official that contains the voter's signature and that is part of the voter's registration record. If upon conducting the comparison of signatures pursuant to subdivision (a) the elections official determines that the signatures do not compare, the identification envelope shall not be opened and the ballot shall not be counted. The cause of the rejection shall be written on the face of the identification envelope. Voters are given the opportunity to verify their signatures before the election is certified for their ballots to be counted.

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