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

lternate
David Tom
Phone: 650.312.5301 Fax: 650.312.5348 E-mai:l dtom@smcare.org

The November 2006 Ballot is LONG
Give Yourself More Time to Vote-- Sign up to Vote by Mail

(Redwood City, CA) “The November 2006 Ballot is a long one – the ballot choices cover both sides of two 8.5” x 17” sheets of paper,” said San Mateo County Chief Elections Officer Warren Slocum. “The length of the ballot may discourage some voters who are in a rush to vote.”
“I’d like to encourage every voter to consider signing up to vote by mail,” said Slocum, a well-known advocate of vote by mail. “The beauty of voting by mail is that voters can take all the time they need to vote their ballot—as long as the ballot is returned to the elections office, city hall or any polling place in the County by 8:00pm Election Day (November 7th).”

“In a higher turnout election with a long ballot, voters will save themselves time if they choose to vote by mail and in doing so, will reduce the pressure of lines at the polls on Election Day,” Slocum added.

Voting on the electronic eSlate voting equipment will probably not speed up the process, either. There will be a learning curve for voters that choose to use the new eSlate voting equipment because most of them will be seeing it and using it for the first time on Election Day. This November’s ballot requires 16 screens of ballot choices plus a few directional screens, ballot summary screens, verification screens and a cast ballot screen as well.

“While making a change on the ballot is easy to do, it will require even more screen choices and time at the eSlate, if a voter has a change of heart or makes a mistake in the voting process,” he explained. “Voters will need some instruction and the time a poll worker spends teaching the voter how to use the eSlate will also slow down the process.”

This is just one more reason to vote by mail and to sign up today. Voting by mail is easy. More than 36% of the voters in San Mateo County have opted to vote this way in every election, an option that has only been available in the past five years. There are approximately 125,000 permanent absentee voters in San Mateo County.
Ballots were mailed to the Permanent Absentee Voters beginning on Friday, October 13th; the last batch will be mailed tomorrow. Voters who wish to sign up to vote absentee have until October 31st to do so. New requests are processed daily.

How to sign up to Vote by Mail:
1. Complete the online form at www.shapethefuture.org/absentee/permanent_voter.asp
2. Return the completed request form on the back of the Sample Ballot
3. Mail a written request to 40 Tower Road, San Mateo, CA 94402 or Fax it (650) 312-5348 a simple letter will suffice. The letter should include: the voter’s name, registered address and if needed, the address that the voter wants the ballot material mailed to them as well as their original signature; it must be dated.

Voting Early:
Voters may go to the Elections Office at 40 Tower Road in San Mateo or the Redwood City office at 555 County Center on the 1st floor to personally apply and pick up an absentee ballot. “That ballot can be voted at the elections office or the voter can take it home,” Slocum advised. Voters may also vote on the eSlates at the Election Offices during this early voting period. Both offices have eSlates voting booths and regular paper ballot booths set up for voting. Voters may vote anytime in the 29 day period preceding the election.
Track & Confirm:

“We have an excellent vote by mail program, an easy online program that allows voters to track their voted ballot, and we find that the participation of voters who vote by mail is greater,” explained Slocum.
The web based ballot tracker program, Track & Confirm, located on the homepage of www.shapethefuture.org gives voters greater peace of mind because they can see when their ballot was received at the Elections Office.