Election Day — your last day to vote — is in just a few weeks, on Tuesday, Nov. 5. And if you’re a registered California voter, there’s a good chance your mail-in ballot has already arrived in your mailbox.
But what if your ballot hasn’t shown up yet?
First of all, make sure you’re not worrying too early. The deadline for Bay Area counties to start mailing out their ballots was Oct. 7. Which means that if you’re reading this in the week or so after that date, there’s a good chance your ballot is still making its way to your door.
But if you’re reading this much closer to Election Day on Nov. 5 and your ballot still hasn’t materialized, don’t panic. The good news is that even if something’s gone wrong, you have time — and several options — to fix things and make sure your vote is counted by the time polls close on Nov. 5.
(Looking for information about what’s on your ballot? Take a look at KQED’s Voter Guide, which unpacks ballot measures and compares candidates in every race in the Bay Area. And if you’ve made a mistake on your ballot, we have a guide to how to address different kinds of ballot — and signature — goofs. )
First, check if your voter registration is correct — and if your ballot has been sent out
Input your details on the secretary of state’s voter status page to check your registration status.
This site will show whether you’re actually registered to vote and to which address. It should also show whether your ballot was mailed out. Read our guide to making sure you’re correctly registered to vote.
You can also use the Where’s My Ballot? Tool to check whether your ballot has been sent.
If you’re registered to the wrong address, you can update it before Oct. 21
If you update your voter registration and address using the secretary of state’s voter status page before the Oct. 21 deadline to register online, your county will cancel the ballot that went to your old address and send you a new one.
And if it turns out your ballot was missing because your voter registration wasn’t updated, don’t feel bad — people move all the time and forget to update their registrations accordingly.
If your voter registration address was correct but your ballot never showed up, you still have options.
If it’s more than six days before Election Day, you can call your county elections office and ask them to send a new ballot. Jump straight to our list of Bay Area county elections offices.
Your county elections office won’t mail you a ballot six days or less before Election Day because it can’t be sure the ballot will reach you in time. So, if you’re trying to get a ballot in the immediate run-up to Election Day, go to your county elections office in person and request one at the counter.
Starting Oct. 7, your county elections office is open for early voting through Election Day on Nov. 5, so you could also go there and vote in person. More early voting locations will be opening throughout October.
