MENDOCINO Co., 3/5/20 — The Mendocino County Elections Office has already counted about 13,000 ballots — those cast at the polls on Election Day and abstentee ballots that arrived by Election Day — but there are at least 16,000 ballots left to be counted in Mendocino County, including 14,732 Vote By Mail (VBM) ballots and 1,575 provisional or conditional ballots, Registrar-Recorder Katrina Bartolomei announced tonight. The county is required to accept any mailed-in ballots that arrive up until Friday, March 6, and are post-marked Election Day or earlier, and are legally allowed 28 days after the election to fully certify the results.
So far Mendocino County has processed 12,815 ballots, and there are at least another 16,307 remaining, add up to a total of 29,122. There are a total of 51,968 registered voters in the county, out of around 88,000 people. California voting regulations allow nearly a month for votes to be processed, and the county is required to accept any additional mailed-in ballots that arrive through March 6 — meaning the total turnout is still unknown, but will be at least 56% percent of registered voters. That also means that a few races could still shift.
The Election’s Office had not made any additional updates since the the last round of results was issued around 1:15 a.m. on March 4, until this evening when they announced that there are 16,307 ballots left to count. That means that while we do have this new number of remaining ballots, there has not been a change in the actual tally of the races since election night. Here’s the breakdown, though more votes could come in:
- District 1: 2,329 votes have been counted and 2,727 are left to count, out of 10,070 registered voters
- District 2: 1,707 votes have been counted, 3,014 are left to count, out of 9,197 registered voters
- District 4: 2,526 votes have been counted, 3,730 are left to count, out of 10,384 registered voters
Mendocino County has two new voting machine systems to expedite ballot processing, which Bartolomei said are a significant improvement over the old ones, and has additional staff, but on election night she demurred from estimating when the final results would be certified.
You can check the status of your mail-in ballot at this link.
Here’s our coverage from election night, and here’s our coverage of the 2020 election season. Below is the March 5 update from the registrar:
PR-Ballots-left-to-count-3.3.2020
This is much clearer than your earlier article on election results which was very confusing and not even close regarding voter turnout.
I was a poll worker on March 3rd. One of the many difficulties of the day was the number of people who came in to vote in person, only to discover that they were “vote by mail” voters. If they had not brought in their mailed ballot, they had to fill out a provisional ballot and fill out a form on the ourtside of an envelope. Many of these voters would say that they had voted in person for years and couldn’t understansd why they were now “vote by mail” voters. Most of these voters had recently been to the DMV to get a “Real ID”, or renew a driver’s license . Some were first time voters and said that they had never asked to be a “vote by mail” voter. Evidently there is a box which you can check on the screen at the DMV that asks “Do you want to receive your ballot in the mail” It does not say that checking that box would make them a “vote by mail” voter. This box is also on a paper registration ballot. Very confusing. If people who have been changed to “vote by mail” want to vote in person for the November election, they need to re-register. It is also a good idea to re-register if you have been a vote by mail voter for many years. They compare your signature on mail-in ballots and I know mine has changed significantly over the past 30 years.
Just changing this small thing would make the voting go a lot faster, not to mention the counts! We didn’t have any lines at our polling place but it took a lot longer for some people just to vote.
My instructions and ballot were mailed sperate to me. the ballot did not arrive. I called and asked for another… It came too late so I GOT HELP at an election voting precinct office. Sad part is now it seems that camping families and fixed income seniors who can’t afford motel and hotel rates in Mendocino were hit by a 10 percent county tax added and voted for by county employees and their friends on the few private campgrounds still remaining in Mendocino county. Will they tax fast food and Pizza Parlors next? Ps … the new tax is more than double what they already take in property taxes from those small businesses. 10 percent of gross income is a back breaker for most small business owners and can only hurt tourists and locals who benefit by camping in fair weather on the coast.