Monday, June 2, 2014

Look up your polling place online & other election day tips

On this election eve the California Voter Foundation has a few election tips to share. 

1. Polls are open 7 a.m. - 8 p.m. tomorrow. Please urge your coworkers, friends and family to participate. 
  
2. Help spread the word that you don't have to vote on everything on the ballot in order for your votes to count. The important thing is to be a voter.

3. While many pundits have been talking about low voter turnout a better message to share is to let people know what a privilege it is to be able to vote and choose who represents us. 

4. Voters looking for their polling place location have a new tool at their fingertips. California Secretary of State Debra Bowen and her staff recently debuted a new statewide polling place lookup tool, produced in collaboration with Google and Pew's Voting Information Project. It also lists statewide candidates and county election office information. This is the first statewide lookup tool made available to California voters. Check it out at http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/find-polling-place.htm.

5. Voters who have vote-by-mail ballots and have not returned them should fill them out and take them to any polling place in your home county on Election Day. Postmarks don't count

6. Late arrival, missing signatures and signatures not matching are the three top reasons why some vote-by-mail ballots don't get counted. Make sure yours does by returning it in person on Election Day, signing the envelope, and signing your name the same way you registered to vote. CVF has more tips to help you make it count

7. There are no dumb questions. Voting can be confusing, and election officials are there to help. Use CVF's Directory of County Election Offices to contact your election office with any last-minute questions.

8. If you need to check your registration status, or the status of your vote-by-mail ballot, or want to view an online version of your county sample ballot you can access these resources in most counties via CVF's Directory of County Election Offices.

9. For information about candidates on the ballot and essential election information, visit CVF's California Online Voter Guide.To follow the money and see who's backing a candidate, visit Maplight's Voters Edge.

10. Wear your "I Voted" sticker tomorrow with pride!