Contact:
Warren Slocum
Chief Elections Officer & Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder
Phone: (650) 363-4988 Fax: (650) 363-1903 E-mail: wslocum@smcare.org

Alternate: David Tom - Phone 650.312.5222 E-mail dtom@smcare.org
Web: www.shapethefuture.org www.smcare.org

August 29th 

Last Day to Vote in the Peninsula Health Care District

Mail Your Voted Ballot Today – Track its Receipt Online

Redwood City, CA – One week from today is Election Day for Peninsula Health Care District voters.  As of Monday, August 21st, the San Mateo County Elections Office had received 24,532 voted ballots from district voters, representing a 24% voter turnout with one week to go.  Voters keenly interested in the turnout aspect of the race can go to the homepage of www.shapethefuture.org and watch the daily turnout totals climb. 

This election, unusual in that it is being conducted entirely by mail, includes voters who live in the cities of San Bruno, Millbrae, Burlingame, Hillsborough, San Mateo and parts of Foster City and South San Francisco.  Warren Slocum, Chief Elections Officer for San Mateo County reminds voters, “If you haven’t already mailed in your voted ballot, do it today—you don’t even need a stamp!”

“With just a week to go, we want to make sure that all ballots cast in this election are received by Election Day.  Mail your ballot today—give the Post Office ample time to ensure delivery.” The District’s 101, 301 registered voters received their election materials in the mail the first week of August. Included in the packet was a postage-paid return envelope to mail back their voted ballot. 

“When we hold an all-mail election, we save the rental expense for some polling locations, the costs associated with transporting and retrieving the voting equipment to the polls, costs for mandatory training of poll workers, and the poll workers stipends. It more than covers the return postage for the ballots, encourages participation and it’s the right thing to do,” explained Warren Slocum, Chief Elections Officer for San Mateo County.

“I encourage all Peninsula Health Care District voters to go to www.shapethefuture.org, the Elections website, and use the “Track and Confirm” feature to find out when their voted ballot was received at the Elections Office,” said Slocum. “It’s easy and gives voters in this all-mail election (and every election) the confidence to know that that their ballot was received and it will be counted.”

“San Mateo County was the first county in California to offer voters the opportunity to track and confirm the status of their voted mail ballot.  Given the rising popularity of voting by mail, I am proud that we offer this service to the voters and pleased that other counties are now following suit,” said Slocum.

It all began when a focus group of San Mateo County voters advised the Elections Office that “voting by mail couldn’t be easier, but they wanted to be able to confirm whether or not their ballot had been received in the mail by the Elections Office.”

“A light bulb went off in my head as soon as I heard that remark. I knew we could offer that assurance to voters—and I knew it wouldn’t be expensive to do.  If the USPS, FedEx and UPS can do it, Elections can, too,” said Slocum.