After months of campaigning, the California Gubernatorial Primary Election is tomorrow, June 3.
Time is already running out for vote-by-mail voters, whose ballots must be reach the Clerk-Recorder’s office by 8 p.m. tomorrow.
“In this primary election, voters are now allowed to vote for any candidate regardless of that candidate's political party,” explained Stanislaus County Clerk-Recorder and Registrar of Voters Lee Lundrigan. “To be counted, your vote by mail ballot must reach our office by 8:00 p.m. on Election Day, June 3, 2014. Post marks do not count.”
The top two votegetters from primaries then move on to November elections, regardless of party affiliation.
Vote-by-mail voters can also drop off their completed ballots at polling places on Election Day, though their votes will not be immediately counted. Those dropped-off ballots will be processed before July 1, and added to the final vote tally.
Voters can check online to see if their ballot was received, visiting www.stanvote.com and then clicking on “My Ballot Status.”
Just over 121,000 Stanislaus County residents are registered as permanent vote-by-mail voters. That’s more than half of the 211,000-plus registered voters in the county.
Those remaining in-person voters are split between 158 polling locations countywide. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. tomorrow. To find your polling place, visit http://qa.co.stanislaus.ca.us/ElectionsWeb/pollLocate.jsp.
As of May 23, 16,167 ballots were already cast. Historically, only about one-third of registered Stanislaus County voters turn out for Gubernatorial Primary Elections, with roughly 70,000 votes cast in previous like elections.
Voters will decide three county elections, determining a new assessor, district attorney, and sheriff. Turlock City Councilwoman Amy Bublak will challenge Assessor Don Gaekle, an appointed incumbent, Modesto defense attorney Frank Carson will take on incumbent DA Birgit Fladager, and standing Stanislaus County Sheriff-Coroner Adam Christianson will square off with Tom Letras, a deputy sheriff from Ceres.
Turlockers will also vote in open primaries, leading up to November elections to select congressmen, state legislators, and persons to hold other statewide offices like Governor, Lieutenant Gov., Secretary of State, and Controller.
And two propositions will be on the June ballot: Proposition 41, the Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Bond Act of 2014, which would sell $600 million in bonds to fund affordable housing for low-income and homeless veterans, and Proposition 42, which would require local governments to comply with public access laws, but would cut tens of millions of dollars in state funding to comply with those laws.
Preliminary results will begin to become available at roughly 8:15 p.m. tomorrow night on TurlockCityNews.com. However, between 5,000 and 10,000 ballots may remain to be counted for days or weeks, potentially leaving some close races undecided. The official election results will be certified, with a manual tally conducted to verify computer counts, within 28 days of tomorrow’s election.
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