My ballot never showed up. Can I still vote?
First, look up your voter registration at voterstatus.sos.ca.gov to check your registration status, which will show you whether you’re correctly registered to vote and to which address. It should also show whether your ballot was mailed out.
If you’re correctly registered to the right address, 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 go to your county elections office or your voting location in person, explain what’s happened and request a replacement ballot. Find your voting location or your polling place through the state’s lookup tool.
If it turns out you were not actually registered to vote or need to re-register to update details like your address or your legal name, you always have the option of Same Day Registration at an open voting location, where you can then fill out and submit your ballot, too.
I made a mistake on my ballot, and now it’s Election Day. What do I do?
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to correcting a mistake on your ballot in California — how a voter corrects a mistake is up to your county, and their advice for how to fix a mistake on your ballot is almost certainly printed on the ballot itself. So check there first.
In the Bay Area, the advice ranges from “X out the incorrect choice and fill in the oval of your actual choice” to “get a new ballot entirely.” See what your county said here.
And if you’ve really messed up your ballot (coffee spills happen), remember you can go to your county elections office or a voting location on Nov. 5 to turn in your spoiled ballot there and get a new one before polls close at 8 p.m.
Is it too late to register to vote?
No. If you’re eligible to vote, you can register in person and cast your vote all the way up until polls close at 8 p.m. on Election Day.
This is possible through Same Day Voter Registration (also known as conditional voter registration), and you can also use this to re-register if you need to update your address or your legal name. Find your nearest polling place or voting location.
Regardless of how you deliver it, you can sign up to track your ballot’s progress with the “Where’s My Ballot?” online tool and be reassured it’s on its way to being counted.
If you’re still waiting to receive your ballot entirely, you can use that same tool to verify it was sent out or use voterstatus.sos.ca.gov. Read more about what to do if your ballot has gone missing.
If I’m voting at the last minute, do I have to fill out the whole ballot?
No. In an ideal world, you’d have the time to read up on every measure and candidate on your ballot and make an informed choice about your vote on every single race. (This is the part where we remind you of the KQED Voter Guide, which breaks down every race in the Bay Area and will be available online until polls close at 8 p.m. on Tuesday.)
But sometimes, things don’t work out that way — and while you might know your choice for president or how you want to vote in the U.S. Senate contest, perhaps you’re less certain about the statewide propositions or water district, and you’re running out of time to vote.
In this case, remember: You can vote in as many or as few races on your ballot as you want, and leaving certain races blank won’t invalidate your ballot or the other things you have voted on.
How can I contact my county directly about voting?
Across the Bay Area, elections officials are encouraging voters to reach out — early — with any questions or concerns. Here’s the contact information for your county:
- Alameda: For information about voting by mail, registration and polling place lookup, call 510-267-8683.
- Contra Costa: Call 925-335-7800 or email voter.services@vote.cccounty.us.
- Marin: Call 415-473-6456 or go to the Marin County elections webpage to send a form email.
- Napa: Call 707-253-4321 or email the elections office at elections@countyofnapa.org.
- San Francisco: Call 415-554-4375 or email sfvote@sfgov.org.
- San Mateo: Call toll-free at 888-762-8683 or email registrar@smcacre.org.
- Santa Clara: Call toll-free at 866-430-VOTE (8683) or email registrar@rov.sccgov.org.
- Solano: Call 707-784-6675 or toll-free at 888-933-VOTE (8683). You can also email elections@solanocounty.com.
- Sonoma: Call 707-565-6800 or toll-free at 800-750-8683.
The state also has a full list of every county elections office in California.
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