Early Fresno County voting has ballots flowing in. How many have come back so far?
More than 470,000 people are registered to vote in Fresno County, and every one of them who registered by Feb. 17 received a vote-by-mail ballot from the county’s Elections Division.
Now, the waiting game is on to see just how many actually return those ballots in time to be counted in results for the March 3 primary. Votes began trickling in on Feb. 6, but the trickle has perked up to a pace in which thousands of ballots are coming in daily.
As of Thursday, Fresno County Clerk/Registrar of Voters Brandi Orth reported that her office has received almost 83,000 ballots back. The vast majority of those – almost 76,000 – have come by mail from the U.S. Postal Service. Another 6,756 were retrieved from official drop-off boxes scattered at locations across Fresno County.
It’s a change from previous years, when most voters were expected to visit their assigned precinct polling place – one of hundreds of voting sites at libraries, schools, churches and other locations – to cast their votes.
This year, Fresno County is among California’s 15 counties that is part of the state’s Voter’s Choice Act. Voters can return their ballot by mail, or they can drop it off at any of the official secured drop boxes or at one of a vastly reduced number of “voting centers” in the county.
So far, the number of ballots returned amounts to about 17% participation. But there are still a few days before the election, and it remains to be seen how many people will wait until Election Day to vote in person or deliver their ballot at a voting center, or put their ballot in the mail.
Lisa Bryant, a political science professor at Fresno State, said the new system is intended to be more convenient for voters. “For millennials, people who are still at work, or have young children at home, the convenience of being able to vote by mail and not have to go in person is definitely a factor that might help boost turnout among those demographics,” Bryant said.
“In five counties that tested the VCA system in 2018, including neighboring Madera County, we saw increases in voter turnout,” Bryant said. “Non-VCA turnout was also higher in 2018 … but VCA counties, where everyone gets a ballot in the mail, (turnout) was even higher.”
To be eligible for counting, ballots must be cast at voting centers, or delivered to centers or the drop-off boxes, on or before Election Day. Votes returned by mail must be postmarked by Election Day and received by March 6 to be counted.
