'I Don't Want My Ballot Getting Lost': Voters Bring Mail-In Ballots to Polling Places

Polling places opened to voters over the weekend in the Bay Area. With much at stake in this election, many voters said they just didn’t want to leave their ballot to chance.

"It's too important ... especially this year," said Jeff Robinette with his wife Flo. They dropped their mail in ballots at the Richmond Civic Center voting location. "With all the craziness going on right now, we wanted to make sure it was at an official, preferably a county or city, building," Robinette said. "It's a beautiful day. We've done our civic duty and now we're going down to Point Richmond to have breakfast."

More than 22 million people are registered to vote in California, nearly 88% of all eligible adults. That’s the highest percentage heading into a general election in the past 80 years, according to the secretary of state’s office.

Richmond voter Abraham Rodriguez was going to use a secured drop box outside the Richmond Civic Center, until he learned that at least 29 ballots dropped there on October 12 were still unaccounted for. "I came in to the actual in-person voting place to make sure my ballot was safely in there," Rodriguez said.

Tim Dupuis, the Registrar of Voters for Alameda County said the county had to turn volunteers away after thousands stepped forward to fill 1,500 election worker spots. Election workers wore face shields, plastic ponchos, masks and gloves and cleaned electronic voting touch screens between voters. Those with the roll of judges had to complete a two hour in-person course followed by a 90-minute online test to be approved.

At the Oakland Coliseum polling place, election judge Linda Zunas said she initially had concerns about volunteering because of COVID-19, but feels things are being run well. "I was really relieved when I got assigned to the Coliseum because I know the Coliseum has good airflow, lots of space," Zunas said. "We have a woman who has a compromised immune system working the drive-up drop boxes because she's thrilled she can be outside and still participate," she added.

One voter said as far as safety is concerned, voting felt no more dangerous than going to the grocery store. This year, all California voters got a ballot in the mail, part of the state’s effort to encourage people to vote remotely and avoid spreading the coronavirus. As of Sunday, more than 9.4 million people have returned their ballot, accounting for nearly two-thirds of all votes Californians cast during the 2016 presidential election.

That points to a potential record-high turnout as vote centers opened in advance of Election Day on Tuesday. The 14.6 million votes cast in 2016 was the most ever in a California election. The highest percentage of registered voters to cast ballots since 1910 was 88.38% in 1964.

The state Legislature agreed to let counties offer fewer polling places this year, but only if they opened them earlier. But like most things in 2020, voting in person won’t be the same.

The registrar for one Bay Area county is reporting that registered voters are returning their ballots early — and in large numbers. Napa County Registrar John Tuteur said that as of 5 p.m. Friday, the county's Registrar of Voters office has received and processed 46,869 ballots for Tuesday's presidential election. Tuteur added that this represents 55.4% of the overall turnout of the county's registered voters to date. "I am pleased that voters are voting safely by using their vote by mail ballots and voting early to avoid congestion on Election Day," he said.

Comparing the latest numbers for Tuesday's presidential election with the last presidential election in November 2016, only 33,117 registered voters returned their ballots at this point in the election cycle, which represented a 43 percent overall turnout. Tuteur added that when the 2016 election was certified, 82.3% of the county's registered voters had cast ballots. "If this trend continues, we could approach a 90 percent final turnout which would be the highest turnout in the past 60 years," Tuteur said.

Gov. Gavin Newsom cast his ballot on Thursday at the Golden 1 Center, home of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings. "Suppress the virus. Not the vote," Newsom tweeted on October 30, adding that as of the day before over 9 million ballots had been cast in California, compared to over 4 million at the same time in 2016.

For the primary in March, Santa Barbara County opened 86 traditional polling places on Election Day. But this election, the county planned to have 35 consolidated polling places open on Saturday, three days ahead of Election Day. Registrar of Voters Joe Holland isn’t sure what to expect because, out of roughly 241,000 registered voters, more than 123,000 have already voted.

“This is really fundamentally changing the way America votes,” he said. “The old-fashioned way of voting is history, and it’s really exciting.”

People who do vote in person will be greeted by poll workers who will follow behind them to clean the equipment after they use it. It’s likely to slow down the process and could create long lines.

Officials are also worried about the potential for violence, given the tense political environment this year. Businesses in Beverly Hills and some San Francisco Bay Area counties are boarding up windows and coming up with emergency plans, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. A report by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project listed California as a “moderate risk” for election-related violence.

The pandemic has also changed how election workers count the ballots. In a normal year, observers from campaigns and advocacy groups will look over the shoulders of election workers as they count ballots on Election Night, often sharing tight spaces. That’s not possible during a pandemic, with public health orders requiring people to stay socially distant.

In Sacramento County, observers can still watch the county this year through the eyes of a robot, affectionately nicknamed “Clyde,” purchased with the help of grant funding. County spokeswoman Janna Haynes said Clyde looks like “a tablet riding a Segway,” with its camera projecting video onto a screen in the lobby for observers to monitor.

“He’s pretty stealth,” Haynes said.

Republican President Donald Trump has routinely cast doubts about the integrity of mail-in voting, a message amplified by social media and conservative media outlets. California Republicans are working hard to boost turnout through other means.

In Sacramento, the county GOP hosted a drive-thru ballot collection on Saturday, encouraging people to show up in costume to hand over their ballots to “trained collectors” who promise to deliver their ballots to the county elections office on Monday.

In some counties with closely contested U.S. House races — including Orange and Los Angeles — Republicans have set up their unofficial ballot drop boxes to assuage any fears of spooked GOP voters. Secretary of State Alex Padilla initially said those boxes were illegal and ordered them removed. Republicans refused, arguing they are collecting ballots as allowed under state law.

The talk is impacting some Democratic voters, including 50-year-old Krystal Bastyr, who drove her ballot to the Sacramento County elections office earlier this week to deliver it in person.

“I wouldn’t mail it. I won’t even drop it in this box. I’m taking it inside,” she said. “Nobody is going to mess with my vote.”

KQED's Julia McEvoy contributed to this report.