Preparing the vote: California elections offices plan for March 5 primary election

Not all California counties have adopted the Voter’s Choice Act, a 2016 law that aims to increase civic engagement. But with mail ballots now standard across the Golden State, differences between VCA and non-VCA counties will likely be minimal.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — For Beth Diebels, mailing in her ballot makes the most sense.

The Folsom, California, resident likes having time to educate herself on the issues. She knows how she’ll vote in some races, while others require research and thought.

Besides, due to her work schedule, Diebels is not usually near a vote center on Election Day.

“It’s the one true option I have to utilize my voice,” Diebels, a voter assistance hotline volunteer for the Democratic National Committee, said of the right to vote. “Not using the power of your vote is basically giving power up to somebody else to make those decisions.”

Like millions of Californians, Diebels plans to cast a ballot in the March 5 primary election. The races on those ballots will run the gamut from county-supervisor and state-level races all the way up to the presidential primaries.

California voters will also choose a replacement for former U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, who died in office last year. There are two elections for that seat: One for the remainder of Feinstein’s term, which lasts until January 2025, and another for a new six-year term beginning that January.

Statewide, Californians will also decide the fate of Proposition 1 — a mental and behavioral health initiative that would authorize over $6 billion in bonds for permanent supportive housing as well as treatment facilities.

Then there are the local races. In the state capital of Sacramento, for example, voters will cast ballots for a new mayor. If no local candidate can secure 50% plus one vote in their respective race, those elections will appear again on the general ballot in November.

The voting process will differ slightly depending on a person’s county of residence. That’s because of the Voter’s Choice Act, a voluntary county-level elections law that aims to increase civic engagement, including by replacing polling places with all-purpose voting centers.

Out of California’s 58 counties, 29 of them — including major population centers like Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento counties — have adopted the Voter’s Choice Act. In these counties, voters can complete their ballots and mail them to their elections office. Alternatively, they can deliver them to designated drop boxes or simply vote in person.

Sacramento County, with a population of over 1.5 million in 2020, was one of the first five counties that implemented the Voter’s Choice Act in 2018. The county even pays for return postage for mail-in ballots.

“All of our voters will receive a ballot in the mail,” said Ken Casparis, a spokesperson for Sacramento County.

During the height of the Covid pandemic in 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed an executive order requiring counties to mail ballots to all registered voters. Since mail ballots were a major part of the Voter’s Choice Act, that executive order minimized the differences between counties that use the act and those that don’t.

Even still, there are small differences between VCA and non-VCA counties. VCA counties replaced polling places with a smaller number of vote centers, which offer more election services and are open for a longer period of time. Furthermore, voters in these counties can use any center as opposed to being assigned a specific polling spot.

In Sacramento County, with a population of almost 1.6 million, there will be 88 vote centers. Eighteen of them will open 11 days before the March 5 election, while the remaining 70 will open four days before.

Drop boxes — designated spots across the county where people can securely return their completed ballots — will open the week of February 5.

In Sacramento County at least, the cost of holding elections fell slightly with the advent of the Voter’s Choice Act. The November 2016 election cost the county about $6.5 million. Compare that to a cost of around $6.2 million for the November 2018 election, the first election held under VCA rules.

After elections are held, the process of tabulating the vote can take weeks, said Casparis, the Sacramento County spokesperson.

Most of the work is done in three weeks — though another week is needed to handle issues like validating signatures and checking voter registration. Certification must be done within 28 days for presidential elections.

Around 160 miles north in rural Shasta County, officials are also preparing for upcoming primary elections. But while Shasta doesn’t use the Voter’s Choice Act, differences between it and Sacramento County nonetheless appear remarkably slim.

As a result of Governor Newsom’s pandemic-era executive order, the county still mails every registered voter a ballot, said Joanna Francescut, assistant county clerk and registrar of voters. Early voting is available for 29 days before the election at one location in Shasta County. There will also be drop boxes for completed ballots, though not as many as in VCA counties.

During an interview in late January, Francescut’s office was performing logic and accuracy tests on its voting system. It was also on the hunt for additional poll workers, who earn about $100 to $125 for working election day.

“We’re pretty busy right now,” Francescut said.

The minimal procedural differences between Shasta and Sacramento counties are perhaps surprising given the recent controversies that have surrounded voting in Shasta. The county made headlines last year when its Board of Supervisors set aside their voting system lease with Dominion Voting Systems. It then told staff to create a procedure for manually counting ballots.

Shasta County is deep red by California standards — and like in other conservative places across the country, unfounded claims of election fraud have grown since 2020, when former President Donald Trump refused to concede to current President Joe Biden. One sitting supervisor in Shasta claimed there was fraud in his race despite winning his election.

At the state level, California lawmakers in October responded to the controversy by passing a law banning manual vote counts in most jurisdictions.

That law went into effect a month before Shasta was set to hold a special election — but in the end, officials say that election went smoothly. The county elections office had prepared for that contingency, and a state elections observer said there were no major issues with the special election.

Regardless, the cost of Shasta County’s elections climbed after the new voting system was implemented. The 2020 primary election cost about $955,000, compared to some $601,000 for the 2022 primary election. Meanwhile, the special November 2022 election — which brought in an entirely new electronic voting system to the county in the wake of the newly passed law — cost the county more than $1 million.

“We are working hard to make sure that we are doing accurate elections,” said Francescut, the assistant county clerk. She says her office wants to educate people about the process, including with voter information guides that list election dates and ballot drop-off sites. With the goal of rebuilding public trust, Francescut also wants people to know about the functions her office performs, like the logic and accuracy testing of its voting machines.

“We’re just really trying to push and be more transparent,” she said.

Diebels, the Folsom resident who also volunteers with a voter assistance hotline, also tries to educate people about the sometimes confusing election process.

Voters often have questions about how to register and where they can vote, she says, as well as whether they need identification to vote. The answer differs by state, and Diebels fields calls from across the country.

As a bit of general advice, Diebels said everyone should double check their voter registration now and ensure it’s correct.

“Election day can creep up on you,” she said.

Categories / Elections, Government, Politics

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Preparing the vote: California elections offices plan for March 5 primary election

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