VOTING! VOTING! VOTING!

QUICK LINKS TO: Federal candidates, State candidates, County candidates, Local Measures, Voting/registration information, Ballot drop-off locations, In-person voting locations, Other voting guides/endorsements.

Voting Fast Facts!

May 9: Ballots mailed out to registered voters
May 23: Last Day to register to vote to receive a vote by mail ballot
May 28th-June 6th: Vote centers open.
June 7: – Election Day: Vote centers open.
When do I need to re-register? You must complete a new registration any time there is a change to your name, residence address, or political party preference.
How do I register to vote?
- On or before May 23rd: Mail in a registration form or register online at: registertovote.ca.gov
- After May 23rd: Register in-person at the Elections Division or at any Vote Center located throughout Ventura County beginning May 28th.
Track your ballot: Track when your ballot has been mailed, received, and counted! Sign up for free at WheresMyBallot.sos.ca.gov
If you have any questions about voting or your registration status, go to venturavote.org, or talk to a real human being at (805) 654-2664.

How-to on your mail-in ballot. Drop it off at a ballot drop box!

Betsy Patterson, president of the Ventura Chapter of the League of Women Voters, runs us through a very quick but thorough training in using our mail-in ballot. REMEMBER: BLUE or BLACK ink only. Then work on your voting plan for getting your ballot, and those of quarantining friends, family and neighbors back to the county. Information on options below.

What’s all this about tracking ballots?

Worried that your ballot hasn’t been mailed to you? Hasn’t arrived back at the county? Hasn’t been counted? Taking a vacation with some other voter? Don’t worry! TRACK IT!!!

Click on this: WheresMyBallot.sos.ca.gov The process, depending on your typing speed, takes about 10 seconds. Look – This is what we got back.

Wait, you’re not registered to vote yet? Not sure?

I can’t remember if I’m registered: Check your status at voterstatus.sos.ca.gov or call (805) 654-2664.
Is it a problem that I moved since I last voted?: You need to RE-REGISTER if you: Change you name. Change your address. Change your political party.
AAUGH! I’m not registered!:
- Before May 23, go to RegisterToVote.ca.gov . The form need your California driver license or California identification card number, the last four digits of your social security number and your date of birth.
- After May 23, drag all the stuff with you to the County Elections Office or to one of the In-person Voting Locations.
AAUGH!!! I’m not registered AND IT’S AFTER May 23: No problem. For you huge procrastinators, you can register and vote in CA on Election Day. But…if you are registering or re-registering less than 15 days before an election, you will need to complete the Same-Day Voter Registration process and request your ballot in person at your county elections office or polling location.
AAUGH!!! I don’t live in CA!: That is very sad. CA loves voters. You’ll need to go here. You can verify if your registration is still valid here.
Registering for the first time?: The League of Women Voters will walk you through it with this video – click on this link so you can follow along! There’s some weird things to learn…like the “American Independent Party” is NOT the same thing as being “independent,” for example.

Can I vote online? No. But you can do this.

Any voter can request access to Remote Accessible Vote by Mail (RAVBM). This system allows voters to download and mark their ballot privaely and independently using their own assistive technology if needed. Voters then PRINT their marked ballot and rturn it to the Elections Division. Sign up here (English) and here (Spanish).

Getting your ballot ready to return – SIGN THE ENVELOPE!

Yes, you can help others who can’t leave their home safely return their ballots : Fill out the upper section on the back of the envelope and put it in a box or take it to an election center no later than three days after receiving it or before the polls close on election day, whichever comes sooner.

Getting it back to the county!

Make a voting plan! Work with your friends and family to make sure everyone, especially people who are susceptible to COVID, can get their ballots back safely.

Return Ventura Co. ballots early to an election division box. “There will be 34 secure ballot drop boxes located throughout the County for the November 3rd election. Ballot drop-off locations
Starting Oct. 6th, the Ballot Drop Boxes are available every day beginning 28 days before Election Day (October 6, 2020). Ballots are picked up by a team of two Ventura County Elections Staff and taken directly back to the Elections Division.
Return your ballot at any of the ballot drop-off locations before 8:00 p.m. on Election Day, November 3, 2020. You can also drop off your ballot at any of the 47 In-Person Voting Locations beginning October 31, 2020.
Return Ventura Co. ballots early to an in-person voting location. There are NO neighborhood polling places for this election. “Vote By Mail ballots may be returned at any of the 47 In-Person Voting Locations during the following times (locations to be published soon):
- Oct. 31 (Saturday): 10 am – 6:00 pm
- Nov. 1 (Sunday): 10 am – 6:00 pm
- Nov. 1 (Monday): 10 am – 6:00 pm
- Nov. 2 (Tues): 7 am – 8:00 pm

When are they going to count my very important vote right away?!

Every county is different: For Ventura County, the ballots will be “processed” as they come in, which means the signatures are matched, ballots are separated from return envelopes and put in stacks to be scanned into the server with “Names of candidates” in one database and the number of votes in another database.
Election Night at 8 pm: The server will “marry” the two databases to provide the Election Night “early results.” No actual counting will be done until the 2 databases are merged on Election Night.
Last day to mail it?: The Elections Division cannot give a definitive date to say “if your mailed ballot is received by the Election Division by this date, it will be counted on Election Night,” because it depends on the workload – how many mailed ballots are received each day before Election Night.
- For example, if they received 100,000 mailed ballots on the Saturday before Election Night, they cannot determine how many of those ballots will be processed and scanned into the server by Election Night.
- They will continue to receive and process to count any and all ballots that are postmarked by Nov 3 for 17 days after Election Day (through Nov 20) and there will still be ballots that may be counted after that, if they are awaiting verification of a signature, or completing the audit, for example.
PENCILS UP!: The election results must be certified by county officials by July 7 and submitted to CA Secretary of State by July 8. The final elections results are certified by the Secretary of State and posted on the state website by July 15.

OK, here’s some political stuff…

Do not use a private delivery service, like UPS, FedEx or others. The GOP wants to stampede us into destroying our own postal service by self-privatizing. Don’t do it.
Return your census! Not only funding, the census determines the number of representatives we get.
Watch out for voting bullies. Know your rights! The ACLU has put together this great guide, including these interesting points:
- Aggressively questioning voters about their citizenship, criminal record, or other qualifications to vote.
- Falsely representing oneself as an elections official.
- Displaying false or misleading signs about voter fraud and related criminal penalties.
- Harassing non-English speakers and voters of color.
Correct false information when you hear or read it.
- You do not need to speak English to vote, in any state.
- You do not need to pass a test to vote, in any state.
- Some states do not require voters to present photo identification.