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If you are planning to vote by mail this year, the deadline to register to vote is Monday, October 19.
If you register to vote after Monday and vote in person, you’ll be casting a conditional or provisional ballot. Those only get counted after officials have finished verifying your information which could be after Election Day.
More than 2 million voters in California have already returned their ballots.
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With 29 days and counting until the Nov. 3 election, many Californians are getting their ballots in the mail this week. There are some 21 million registered voters in California, and every one of them will be getting a vote-by-mail ballot.
In this election, how you vote may be just as important as who you vote for. A new study by the non-partisan California Voter Foundation found that on average, nearly 2% of all vote-by-mail ballots in California are rejected and that amounts to tens of thousands of voters.
The CVF has even introduced a song to get people to participate in the voting process.
California Voter Foundation President and Founder Kim Alexander told KCRA 3 her organization wants to make sure that everyone’s vote counts.
We spoke with Kim Alexander, president of the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation, about the errors to avoid when filling out your ballot so that you can get your vote on its way to being counted.
And if the news of the president's COVID-19 diagnosis has you wondering about how this will impact the election in general? The honest answer is that nobody quite knows right now. But one thing Alexander wants you to know: giving yourself a deadline for when you want to mail your ballot and working backwards with a plan for when to do your homework and actually fill out your ballot will help. "Your plan may shift, but in times of uncertainty it’s good to have a game plan," she says. Reading this is a great start.
Plan to Send Your Ballot on Time
Before we even talk about what's on the ballot itself, you need to know this: The #1 reason that ballots get disqualified in California is because they aren't mailed on time.
"Voting is challenging for many people, especially during a pandemic," said Kim Alexander, who wrote the song's lyrics and recruited volunteer, professional performers and editors to help record and produce the music video. "We put this song together to give voters a creative and entertaining way to help them prepare to vote with confidence."
As has been the case with CVF election songs in the past, this year's edition uses rhyme and a bit of humor to inform voters about the importance of getting vote-by-mail ballots in on time and remembering to sign their ballot envelope, according to Alexander.
The election songs are inspired by "Schoolhouse Rock," the 1970's series of children's television shorts that used music and animation to educate a generation about civics, math, and grammar. (Full Video)
One of the biggest challenges facing the election this year is simply the process. For the first time ever, all California voters will receive a ballot in the mail. Some voters are concerned their vote may not be counted. On top of that, voters are hungry for trustworthy information about candidates and issues. We take your questions about voting this year with Kim Alexander, president and founder of the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation. (Full Audio)
This non-partisan videos educates California voters on how to ensure their votes are counted, whether the ballots are submitted in person or by mail.
Our advisors will discuss topics such as:
• What happens to an election ballot
• How ballots are counted
• Dispel myths about the balloting process
• Lift the "curtain of mystery" surrounding election procedures
Our speakers are Kim Alexander, President of the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation, and Hon. Catharine B. Baker, former State Assemblywoman and Special Counsel to Hoge Fenton. {Full Video}
Things are different and there are questions. We're answering them live.
The next election is speeding toward us on a runaway train of rhetoric, doubt, and deterrents.
We have some facts, instead.
Election Day is technically November 3, but early voting starts soon after October 5 when ballots begin shipping out to every active, registered voter in California.
In L.A., we'll be voting on: the next president of the United States, the head of the largest prosecutor's office in the country, affirmative action, a possible rollback of California Proposition 13, and much more.
Pressure is high. But it's 2020, so the intensity doesn't end there. The actual process of voting is also different.
You'll be doing it possibly by mail, or at a new vote center, in the time of a historic pandemic, in the midst of a fury over racial inequity and police brutality, while the Golden State burns in the orange glow of climate change.
With the 2020 general election already underway in California and more than half the states in the country, Kim Alexander, President and Founder of the California Voter Foundation, and Rob Chua of the Filipino Bayanihan Resource Center join the podcast to inform listeners about how the voting process differs this year in comparison to previous elections. In a dialogue moderated by Jack Mahoney, SVCF's Civic Participation Program Officer, the episode focuses on what voters need to know for the upcoming election, including how to ensure mail-in ballots are counted, the leading casuses for ballot rejection and more.
In SVCF’s Philanthropy Now podcast series, we explore trends in the world of philanthropy, social impact initiatives in Silicon Valley and beyond, and we look at how SVCF promotes innovative philanthropic solutions to challenging problems.
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California’s youngest voters are three times more likely to have their mail ballots rejected than voters as a whole, a new study has found, highlighting a problem that could grow as more of those inexperienced voters turn out in November.
A study by the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation of three California counties — Sacramento, San Mateo and Santa Clara — found that in the November 2018 election, voters ages 18-24 made up the smallest number of mail voters of any age group, but had by far the highest number of rejections.
“With young and new voters the high rejection rate persists, even though the state has made a lot of changes to bring it down,” said Kim Alexander, the foundation’s president and author of the report.
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Tuesday Sept. 22 is National Voter Registration Day, a nonpartisan effort that encourages Americans on the fourth Tuesday of September to get ready for the upcoming election.
In a statement, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla described the day as “the perfect time to sign up” for the millions of Californians who have yet to register.
All voters must be registered to participate in the November election, which starts in earnest in California in early October when mail-in ballots will be sent out to all active, registered votersin the state.
In California, you can register, pre-register (if you are 16 or 17) or check your registration at registertovote.ca.gov. Teens who pre-register will receive a confirmation in the mail once they turn 18 stating their voter registration is now active.
