What California voters should know ahead of June primary amid mail-in ballot changes

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]Turnout for Tuesday's primary is already running ahead of prior elections.

[00:00:04]>> But if you haven't cast your ballot just yet, officials say time is running out for you to mail it. There's some changes. News8's Abby Black is live at the registar of voters to explain a new rule. Abby >> Marcela, if you still have your ballot at home, the registar of voters has a simple message. You either want to drop it off here at the register of voters at a drop off location or a voting center.

[00:00:30]And why? It's all because of the postmark.

[00:00:36]>> A steady stream of voters at the registar of voters in Kernney Mesa 5 days before the election.

[00:00:42]>> We compare the mail ballot returns now.

[00:00:43]They're slightly higher than they have been in the last two primaries, but still on par. So right now we're at about 16% that have turned it in. And when you compare it to the last two elections, those are right about 15 and 14%. So trending just a little bit higher.

[00:00:58]>> Clay Bingham and Julie Mitchell handd delivered their ballots at the registar voters today.

[00:01:03]>> It's been a tradition for a few years now. I just love driving down coming in parking and going in and meeting people.

[00:01:11]>> I went inside and I went and I took it out of the envelope and put it in the box.

[00:01:16]>> Those early counts matter. The governor has urged counties to speed up voting results, saying the longer it takes, the more room there is for miss and disinformation.

[00:01:24]>> Is it 3 days in the postal service before?

[00:01:27]>> San Diego County register Shawn Braum says that they process everything by the book.

[00:01:31]>> The county has specific processes in place to ensure that every ballot that is received is verified and is accurately tabulated.

[00:01:39]>> If you haven't mailed your ballot yet, here's what you need to know. The US Postal Service has changed how it defines a postmark. It's now based on when mail is processed, not when you drop it off.

[00:01:50]>> There have been some changes at the post office uh where they are centralizing the collection and where it gets postmarked.

[00:01:57]>> That means a ballot dropped in a mailbox today may not get to today's postmark.

[00:02:02]In California, your ballot must be postmarked by election day and arrive within 7 days after to count.

[00:02:08]>> What we are encouraging people this close to the election is to utilize one of the ballot dropbox locations. There are 150 voting locations open now. By Saturday, all 220 will be operating across the county. You can also register and vote at any voting center on election day. Track your ballot at sdvvote.com.

[00:02:30]To further expand on tracking your ballot, the registar of voters says that when you sign up for that on sdvote.com, you'll receive a text message when your ballot is received and another text message when it's been counted. Marcela >> Abby. So what if someone absolutely wants to mail their ballot on election day? Is there anything they can do?

[00:02:51]>> So this would be your safest option. You can go to the post office itself and have someone handstamp that postmark so it is counted on that day on election day. But again the registar of voters says your safest last minute option is to drop it off at one of their locations.

[00:03:09]>> Good information. And I think a lot of voters don't know about that yet. So hopefully we can get the word out so those votes do count.