There is confusion about whether people can still register to vote. Monday, October 19 would normally be the deadline to vote on November 3 for Californians.
However, this ‘deadline’ no longer means it was your last chance to register at all. There are in-person registration options through 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3. The Oct. 19 date was set to give county election officials time to verify voters’ eligibility and still mail ballots in time for the election.
However, Secretary of State Alex Padilla explains, "If you missed the traditional voter registration deadline, you still have an opportunity to cast a ballot. 2020 marks the first year that voters can complete the ‘Same Day’ voter registration process and cast their ballot at any polling place or vote center in their county. This is yet another step California is taking to lead the nation in expanding voting rights and access to the ballot.”
“And you don’t have to wait for Election Day! To minimize wait times, I encourage Californians who need ‘Same Day’ voter registration to visit an early voting location or their county elections office before Election Day,” explains Padilla.
“Voters who are unsure of their voter registration status can verify it quickly at voterstatus.sos.ca.gov," Padilla added. The following offices can be helpful for registration and voting to those residing in these counties: Sutter County Elections Office, 1435 Veterans Memorial Circle, Yuba City, CA.; Yuba County Elections Office, 935 8th Street, Marysville, CA.; Butte County Elections Office, 155 Nelson Ave., Oroville, CA.
‘Same Day’ Voter Registrants will be asked to fill-out a voter registration form and then will be given a ballot. Their ballots will be counted once the county elections office has completed the voter registration verification process.
Since the 2016 general election, California has added nearly 3 million new voters and the voter registration rate is at its highest level since 1952 according to the Secretary of State’s office. More than 84% of eligible voters are registered — or 21.2 million Californians. Even so, millions more who have not registered are still eligible.
California sent ballots to 22 million registered voters, and the votes returned so far make up about 25% of them. It’s still unclear whether voter turnout in the state overall will be higher this year than in previous years. But the early turnout is “shattering prior election returns”, said Paul Mitchell of Political Data Inc., a bipartisan voter data firm based in California.
In the 2016 Presidential election, Hillary Clinton won California with 61.73 percent of the vote and a 30.11 percent margin, both the highest since Franklin D. Roosevelt's (FDR) 66.95 percent vote share and 35.25 percent margin in 1936. This was also the first time that Orange County voted Democratic since 1936, when FDR swept every single county in the state.
A majority of Yuba, Sutter, Colusa, Butte, and Placer voters favored Trump with Nevada County going to Clinton in 2016. The rural north state went to Trump with the metropolitan areas and the South going in dominant fashion to Clinton.
Nationally, the 2020 election could have the highest voter turnout in more than a century with an estimated 150 million Americans predicted (65% of eligible voters) to cast their vote for the next president – the highest turnout since 1908. In 2016, approximately 137 million people voted.
More than 58 million Americans have voted as of October 25, with just nine days to go before November 3. According to the US Elections Project, so far the most votes have been cast in Texas followed by California and Florida, and across the nation more than 39 million mail-in ballots have been filed and more than 18.9 million in-person votes have been cast.
In California, about 32 percent of registered Democrats — upwards of 3.2 million — have already voted, according to the Elections Project. In comparison, 23 percent of Republicans and 21 percent of independents have had their ballots processed. Nearly 650,000 more Democrats have voted than Republicans and independents combined.
Bottom line, you can still have a say in this election.
(Get Lou’s podcast at “No Hostages Radio” and his articles at nohostagesradio.com)
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