At Tuesday’s meeting of the Yucca Valley Town Council, the council heard about voting procedures and specifically voting by mail from the county’s registrar of voters. Managing editor Tami Roleff gives a brief overview of the presentation…
“We are encouraging voters to vote early, because the presidential general election is typically the election that receives the most voter turn-out and typically results in some significant lines at polling places.”
Registrar of Voters Bob Page reassured the Yucca Valley Town Council Tuesday that voting by mail will be safe for voters and the ballots will be secure. During the March primary, 70 percent of all registered voters in the county voted by mail, and he said the county’s election office is prepared for an even higher percentage during the presidential election.
“We’ve doubled our capacity for processing mail ballots. We increased the number of mail ballot scanners and we doubled the number of work stations we have for employees to verify the signatures on the return envelopes before we open them.”
Page noted that the county has installed 70 ballot drop boxes throughout the county where voters can drop off their ballots instead of mailing them. There are three in the Morongo Basin—at the Yucca Valley Town Hall, Twentynine Palms City Hall, and Joshua Tree library.
Each ballot drop box weighs about 200 pounds and is bolted to concrete.
Page reassured voters that the county is making an extra effort to make sure polling places are safe if they want to go to the polls instead of mailing their ballot. But he warned voters to be prepared to wait if they vote in person.
“Because of COVID-19 and the measures we’re taking with regarding cleaning and social distancing, it is going to take longer if a voter goes to the polling place to get through that process whether it’s waiting in line, or once they get checked in, the amount of time it typically takes for them to vote, it will probably be about doubled given the cleaning protocols we have in place.”
Poll workers will be fully equipped with personal protective equipment—face shields, face masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, and more. High touch areas at the polling stations will be cleaned often, which will contribute to the delays. Voters will be asked to wear masks, and masks will be offered to voters who show up without a mask. However, no one will be turned away from voting if they don’t have a mask or refuse to wear one, as he said that would be voter suppression.
Page said the elections office has moved from keeping the voter information on paper at the polling station to electronic files. Poll workers will be able to verify a voter’s registration status at any polling station—whether they’re at the correct polling station and whether they’ve voted already. If a voter is at the wrong polling station, he or she can still vote, using a provisional ballot.
Page urged residents to check out their registration status at the elections website, sbcountyelections.com, or call or email with questions.
909-387-8300
