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By Pamela Cruz with information from Raúl Ayala. Peninsula 360 Press.
“San Mateo County is offering voters a choice. Registered voters receive a ballot in the mail…” begins an advertisement that the county distributed on radio and Internet platforms to inform voters about the election this Tuesday, March 5, the day on which the primary elections will be held. The countdown begins!
Jim Irizarry, assistant chief of elections for San Mateo County, told Peninsula 360 Press what will be voted on this Tuesday, March 5.
"It's called the presidential primary, which will decide who will represent various parties in the general election in November; but within that general election there are several elections that are also taking place here (on a) state level," Irizarry said.
“We also have, locally, the board of supervisors that are running, and several cities that are coordinating elections for measures and proposals and, if they pass, they will become law, that is more at the level of cities and school districts.
And if people have not yet voted, what should they do?
“Voting started on February 5 in San Mateo County, when we opened the voting centers; we sent all registered voters ballots that are already in the hands of the voters. You can vote before March 5. With that ballot you can send it by mail, you can vote (in person) at a voting center, or you can drop it off in a ballot box that we have placed in the county.”
Additionally, he said, there is another way people can vote: “We have a program called Remote Accessible Vote-By-Mail (RAVBM), and if a person wants to request their ballot electronically, they call us and we send it to them, they can mark the ballot and mail it to us.”
The assistant chief of elections also told us what the Voting Centers located in cities in the county are for.
“March 5 is Election Day and all polling places are going to be open from 7:00 in the morning until 8:00 at night; this weekend we have 49 polling places that people can go to vote. The polling places are there to help voters with questions they have, for example, if they want to register to vote they can go there and do so up until Election Day.”
The official added that “the voting centers are there to provide services, but also to be able to vote in person. All the voting centers have voting machines. So, if there are people who feel more comfortable voting on a machine, they can go to the voting centers and vote there.”
He also explained that “these centers help people who may have disabilities. Also, on election day, we have what is called Curbside Voting, where people can go to the voting centers. We have 16 that are accepting ballots on the street.”
And what is the most important thing that voters who received the ballot and want to send it or deliver it should keep in mind, so that their vote counts?
“The most important thing is that people sign their envelope when they send their ballot to the office or put it in the ballot box. If they are voting at a polling place, we have all that information there and we confirm that the voter has done so and they can and do vote on a machine, but most people vote by mail, so they send it to the postal system or use one of the boxes. The most important thing is, if you are going to send it by mail, make sure you send it no later than March 5th at 12 o’clock at night. It has to have a date and time stamp to prove that it was sent on Election Day before 12 o’clock at night.”
Does the voter have to bring any identification?
“To register, yes, to vote, no. Only people who are registered can vote. When they send the ballot by mail, there is no identification required, we already have the identification because we sent them the ballot. The most important thing, again in this case, is that they sign their envelope, because then you don't know who is voting if they don't sign the envelope.”
Until what time can you vote on Tuesday the 5th?
“Until 8:00 at night. We start at 7:00 in the morning and we finish at 8:00 at night; if you want to vote inside a voting center you can do so until 8:00 at night, if you are in line you can vote no matter if it is at 9:00, but you have to be in line before 8:00 at night.”
And what is the best way to find out where the voting centers and special drop-off boxes are?
“You can call us at 6503125222, it is our phone number, we have people there, in all languages, you can come to the voting center, here at 40 Tower Road, in San Mateo, and you can also go to our website which is smcvote.gov, there you have all the information about this election.”
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