(Redwood City) - Warren Slocum, San Mateo County's Chief Elections Officer, announced, “The Sample Ballots are in the mail—and will be for the next three weeks!” All voters will receive their own personal copy of the sample ballot courtesy of the U.S. Post Office. The contents of the County Sample Ballot are also on line at www.shapethefuture.org, the official San Mateo County Election website.

The San Mateo County Sample Ballot contains the arguments, text, and impartial analysis for all County, City, and School District measures on the November 2, 2004 ballot. The candidate statements for County, City, School, and Special District offices are also included in the Sample Ballot. “Here’s where voters can judge for themselves who and what they want to vote for,” said Slocum.

“The Sample Ballot is an excellent source for fair, free, in-depth information on the issues and candidates for which citizens will cast their vote on November 2 nd,” Slocum stated. “If you can't wait for your copy of the Sample Ballot to arrive in the mail, simply go on-line to www.shapethefuture.org and satisfy your curiosity.”

The County Sample Ballot is available on audio tape upon request for the visually impaired. “We intend to make voting as accessible as possible so that everyone has a voice in the democratic process,” said Slocum. “The Sample Ballot will be printed in English, Spanish and Chinese to make election information accessible to our diverse community of voters.”

The Sample Ballot will be mailed on a rolling schedule beginning today, September 23 rd and continuing for the following 30 days. The schedule is driven by printing and sending the largest common-style groups of sample ballots first, in order to reach the greatest number of voters as early as possible.

State Voter Information Guides will be mailed by the state directly to voters during the same period. One set of Voter Information Guides will be sent to each household. The state will send two Guides, one for Propositions 59 – 64 and 66 – 72, as well as a supplemental guide for Propositions 1A and 65. Additional information on state-wide candidates and measures can be found at the Secretary of State's web site, www.SOS.ca.gov.

If you have any questions regarding the County Sample Ballot delivery schedule, please call the Elections Division at (650) 312.5222 or e-mail registrar@smcare.org.