Inside Elections

As we mentioned previously, Sample Ballots & Official Voter Information Pamphlets will hit voter mailboxes beginning Sept. 27.  Also coming soon? Official Ballots!

The early voting period for the Nov. 4 Presidential General Election begins Oct. 6.  On this day, Vote by Mail ballots will begin arriving in Vote by Mail voter mailboxes and the voting centers at 555 County Center in Redwood City and 40 Tower Road in San Mateo will be open for in-person voting.

One big difference between the ballots for this election and ballots from previous elections:  It’s a long ballot.

Every voting precinct has two ballot cards.  The ballot cards have contests printed on both sides of the paper, meaning that after you select your options on one side of one card, flip the card over for more options.  Make sure you take a look at both cards, so that you don’t miss the opportunity to vote on all the contests you want to vote on.

On the bottom of each ballot card is the statement “Vote on Both Sides.”  There was some concern about this phrase several elections ago that indicated possible confusion since there are two columns of text on one side of the card.  “Both sides” does not refer to both columns; it refers to the front “side” and the back “side” of the card.

To help curb confusion, we’ve also added the following phrase to the ballot card, at the end of the last column on the page: “Attention: This is a 2 card ballot.  Please vote all 4 sides (front and back) of the ballot.”

What does this mean for voters voting on the eSlate?  Obviously, there aren’t sides to a ballot on an electronic screen.  Instead of sides, there will be multiple screens of ballots to scroll through.  When you’re voting on the eSlate, pay attention to the instructions near the bottom of the screen, so that you know whether or not there are more screens with contests to vote on.

Questions about the ballot?  Call the Elections Office at (650) 312-5222!