Possibly the most important presidential election of our lifetimes is today, with polls opening at 7am and closing at 8pm. As of Monday night, 55.81 percent of Monterey County registered voters had turned in their ballots, all 115,501 of them. If you're one of the remaining 44.19 percent of registered voters, this is the last chance to weigh in on who will lead us at the national, state and local levels.
Every registered voter in California received a ballot by mail, to keep voting as safe as possible during the Covid-19 pandemic. For those voters still hanging on to theirs—or for those who didn't receive a ballot for whatever reason, or misplaced it—there are 85 polling places in precincts around the county. A list of polling places is available at montereycountyelections.us/polling-places.
To find the polling place for your precinct, use the county's look-up guide. If you need to find your polling place butdon't have an address number, call Monterey County Elections at (831) 796-1499.
If you're voting in person today, officials recommend to bring your mailed ballot with you, but it's not required. If you filled out your ballot at home, you may drop it off at any polling place, regardless of whether it is your precinct or not. If you need someone to drop off your ballot for you, make sure to fill out the section on the back of the envelope indicating you are giving someone else permission to turn it in.
Other places where mail-in ballots may be dropped off include: permanent ballot boxes that were installed around the county; temporary boxes inside governmental buildings; the Monterey County Elections office; and the temporary Elections Department satellite location at the Embassy Suites in Seaside.
For a complete list of ballot dropboxes and Monterey County Elections locations, see our interactive map.
Ballots may be mailed (postage is already paid) as long as they are postmarked by today, Nov. 3. (U.S. Postal Service officials have assured county elections officials that vote-by-mail ballots will move efficiently, but if you have any concerns, use dropboxes or in-person voting instead.)
Legally the ballots have 17 days to arrive by mail to elections offices to be included in the final count. It might not matter in the presidential race when it comes to determining California's Electoral College votes, but it will make a difference for local races, especially if the count is close.
For anyone who isn't yet registered, there is a safety net called Conditional Voter Registration in the state of California. It allows someone to go to a polling place and request to register and vote after the registration deadline passes up until the day of the election. The video below explains the process.
Need a ride to the polls? Monterey-Salinas Transit is offering free bus rides all day. The ridesharing app Lyft is offering 50-percent off of rides to polling places or dropboxes of up to $10 by using the code 2020VOTE*.