Some hiccups at Valley polls highlight otherwise smooth midterm election

No problems were reported on Election Day in Fresno County, though a few of the nearby Valley counties did encounter some hiccups when some polling stations ran out of envelopes for provisional ballots.

Overall, Valley registrar of voters’ offices reported a more than usual busy midterm election.

Brandi Orth, Fresno County’s registrar of voters, said Fresno County didn’t see any issues that she was aware of as of late Tuesday night. Envelopes for provisional ballots, Orth said, weren’t a problem. “It was just kind of a busy day,” she said.

Michelle Baldwin, Tulare County’s registrar of voters, said her county had polling stations that ran out of envelopes for provisional ballots. But those polling stations were able to call that county’s Registrar of Voters Office and additional envelopes were delivered.

Another issue in Tulare County was some people voted provisionally at polling stations — but hadn’t actually registered to vote. Provisional voting is for people who are registered, but may have showed up to the wrong polling station, or received a ballot by mail but didn’t use it, for example.

Baldwin said those voters were contacted, and the issues were resolved.

Tulare County saw a lot of conditional voter registrations, which allows people to register up to Election Day if they missed the Oct. 22 deadline, Baldwin said. This is the first year that California allowed conditional voter registration.

A preliminary report before the Tulare County polls closed showed that 141 people had taken advantage of the conditional voter registration. Baldwin expected that number to go up to at least 200 by the time the polling closed.

“Our lobby was full all day,” Baldwin said.

For the 2016 Presidential Election, the Tulare County Registrar of Voters office processed 473 ballots for the entire day, but as of 5 p.m. Tuesday, the central office had already processed 485, which included conditional voter registrations, Baldwin said.

Rebecca Martinez, Madera County’s registrar of voters, said Madera County didn’t encounter any issues.

Stephanie Sibley, elections division manager in Madera County, said the county didn’t have any shortfalls of envelopes for provisional ballots. The county saw at least 500 conditional voter registrations on Election Day, alone, but had enough materials.

Fresno County on Monday had 120 people who used this year’s conditional voter registration and voted. Orth expected that number to at least double on Election Day or be even higher.

Kristine Lee, King County’s registrar of voters, didn’t return calls seeking comment.

Lee Lundrigan, Stanislaus County’s registrar of voters, said her office ran out of envelopes for provisional ballots, but had enough actual ballots.

A hearing by a Stanislaus County Superior Court judge was held Tuesday night at the request of the California Democratic Party asking the judge to allow for the polling stations to be open for an extra period of time, due to the lack of enough envelopes.

Lundrigan said Stanislaus County used other methods when it ran out of the “pink” envelopes by using another kind. The judge “immediately ruled in our favor,” Lundrigan said, and the polling sites closed on time.

Pink envelopes are used to distinguish provisional ballots from regular ballots.

This story was originally published November 6, 2018 at 11:04 PM.