NewsClicks

June 9, 2016 - It was a record setting day in Orange County - nearly 110,000 vote-by-mail ballots were dropped off directly at polling places on Election Day. The last time we broke a record was the General Election in 2012, when 90,000 ballots were dropped off. This means that we start from scratch in the days following June 7th, which means that we must organize, perform signature checks, open, prepare and scan these ballots. 

June 2, 2016 - Here's an important news flash - a new law in California allows voters to mail their ballot on Election Day. In the past, ballots had to be received "on or before" 8 p.m. on Election Night. Now, voters running late, can drop their ballot in the mail on Election Day and it will still count. An important caveat - it must be postmarked (or dated) on or before Election Day, and received in our office via mail delivery, within 3 days (by Friday, June 10, 2016) in order to be counted.

June 2, 2016 - Pursuant to California Election Code section 15360 (d) this serves as public notice that we will be conducting a random draw of 1% of our precincts in the June 7, 2016 Primary Election to be used in a manual tally of votes cast. This manual tally is used to verify the electronic tally of our voting system and the vote-by-mail tally system. The random draw will occur on Thursday, June 9, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. The manual tallies will follow the random draw and will take place until complete. Both processes are open to the public.

June 1, 2016 - As of today vote-by-mail ballot returns have passed returns for the 2012 Presidential Primary Election by 33.5%. In today's mail we received 35,754 as compared to 25,211 for the same number of days prior to Election Day in 2012. For the entire period of ballot returns we have received 188,096 as compared to 140,800 for the same period in 2012 (a difference of 47,296). You can track real-time ballot returns by visiting our website at ocvote.com/datacentral.

May 31, 2016 - If you don't have time to mail your vote-by-mail ballot no need to worry - we will have 1,052 polling places ready to accept your voted ballot. Two good things about this? You won't need a stamp and you won't have to wait in line - simply present your ballot to any poll worker in any polling place closest to your home, your work or wherever you are on June 7th. We've made it easy to find a polling place close to you - visit ocvote.com/lookup to enter an address - we'll see you next Tuesday!

May 31, 2016 - We thought it would be appropriate (on the deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot) to highlight the strong growth in vote-by-mail voting as an option for voters in Orange County. 

Since 2012 here are the numbers:

2012 Primary - 685496

2012 General - 811603

2014 Primary - 749025

2014 General - 786894

2016 Primary - 849334

May 28, 2016 - We've been detailing for some time now about the facts surrounding NPP voters (how are poll workers are actually trained, what options and rights NPP voters have, etc.). So how are we prepared for NPP voters requesting crossover ballots? We are one of only two counties in California that can use electronic voting equipment, which means that there is an infinite supply of ballots in the polling place.

May 27, 2016 - It’s a good idea for voters to receive their information from their local elections official – this will provide the most accurate information when it comes to options and rights for NPP voters. We have been messaging for months on exactly what kinds of options are available for these voters. When you look at it in detail we have had well over 1.8 million impressions (when you take into account sample ballot communication). Want more information?

May 24, 2016 - It's important to remind voters to only include their voted ballot in the ballot return envelope (not additional ballots). Occasionally we receive two ballots in one return envelope - and it almost always is the ballot of the spouse, significant other, child, etc. When two are included it's impossible to determine which ballot should be applied to the voter in the household.

May 24, 2016 - This is a question we receive quite often - especially from voters who only vote once every few years. When a voter fills out a registration form, one of the questions asked (in fact it's #14 on the California form) is "Do you want to register with a political party?". There are 8 possible answers, including major and minor parties, as well as declining to affiliate with a party (known as "No Party Preference, or NPP").