We are at a critical point in time to vote for leaders who will take action on climate change. A few reminders about the 2020 election:
- The deadline to register online to vote is Monday, October 19. Register here or check your voter registration status here.
- No one in California needs to request a mail-in ballot. This year, every registered voter is receiving one whether they requested it or not. Ballots are being mailed Oct 5.
- No postage is necessary on the ballot envelope. Remember to sign the outside of the envelope.
- The last day to mail your ballot is on Election Day, November 3rd; it must be postmarked before 8 pm.
- If you prefer to drop off your ballot, you can do so at a secure ballot drop-box, polling location, or the county elections office. There will be 37 secure drop-box sites in Contra Costa County, and ballots are taken by election officials daily to the elections office.
- If you decide you want to vote in person on Election Day itself, you must bring your mail-in ballot with you. If you forget, you can vote but with a provisional ballot. Read more here.
- The registrar strongly recommends that everyone sign up to track your ballot! You can choose email, text, or voice notifications about the progress of your ballot until it has been counted. (This does not change or update your voter registration.)
- Though much of the media attention has been on the Presidential Election, there are also 12 propositions on the ballot in California. Learn more here.
- If you are healthy and available, consider signing up to be a poll worker on Election Day! More than half of those who typically volunteer are over the age of 60 and may be staying home due to being in a high-risk category for COVID. Learn more about how to work at the polls on Election Day.
- If you have issues with voting, call the Election Protection Hotline at 1-866-687-8683.
Did you know only 52% of eligible voters in California even bothered to exercise their right in the 2016 General Election? Why vote, especially here in California where you may feel like it won't make a difference since we are not a swing state?
It may not make a big difference in the presidential election due to the electoral college system, but you don't just vote for president. You vote for senators, assembly persons and other local officials, as well as local and state ballot measures that affect taxes, environmental and land use regulations, and more. In fact, these local elections, measures and propositions often have a much larger immediate impact on your daily life than the bigger elections.
Even if your vote does not affect the outcome of a given election, it can impact the extent of the winner's "mandate," and voting in any event is an important habit for a citizen in a democracy, shaping your own and others' behaviors at the time and in the future. It's also a matter of posterity - each person who does not vote is thereby effectively subtracted from that particular historical record. If you don't vote, you are invisible to politicians. You're representing your demographic and making a statement that you pay attention.
The recent wildfires and other unprecedented climate events across the country just in the past year, have reminded us that the stakes are high and the time to act is now.
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