Vote Safe and a Little More in 2024

Part 6 – In-Person Voting & Observing

Since 2012, EIPCa has advocated voting in person as the best way to ensure chain of custody, prompt counting and minimal opportunity for manipulation of your ballot.

Voting in Person means to cast a vote without an envelope

at a polling location in your county.

When you are in a polling location (including Vote Centers) to vote or to do your “little More” by acting as a Citizen Observer, be aware of the following:

• Polling locations must open and close EXACTLY on time.

• The Voters Bill of Rights must be posted prominently both inside and outside the polling location.

• # 9 on that document shows that voters have the right to ask questions and receive satisfactory answers.

• It’s YOUR vote, so don’t be pushed or forced into casting a ballot in a manner that makes you uncomfortable.

• ASK; if the workers do not know the answer, or it seems wrong to you, ASK them to call their hotline and verify the answer.

• Polling locations must have supplies to service all voters without producing undue wait periods.

• The ballot containers should be OPEN and UNSEALED until the first voter of the day verifies that they are empty.

• ALL elections officials must be competent in their job and fluent in English. 

• They must be pleasant and professional in dress, language and behavior, and wear an ID badge while performing their duties.

• All machines and booths must be in the same room and in plain view of poll workers at all times.

• Voters experiencing any difficulties (being told they have already voted, or are not registered, etc.) have the right to request officials to call their County Hotline for additional situation resolution.

• All voters must have the opportunity to vote in privacy, including those with disabilities.

• 2 or more individuals over 18 may NOT be together in a booth or at a machine; however, voters may request up to 2 individuals to assist them if needed.

• Voters who cannot enter the polling location, but who wish to vote in person, must be assisted at the curb.

• Voters wishing to submit their completed ballot in its envelope may drop it off at any polling location in the state.

• Officials should inspect the envelope for correct information and signatures before accepting it.

• Voters dropping off ballots for someone else may do so. There is no limit to the number any one individual may submit.

• Officials should ensure that the voter has properly signed and dated the envelope, and the deliverer has also signed and listed relationship to the voter.

Voters wishing to vote in person

should not be pressured or dissuaded from doing so!!

• No one may electioneer within 100 feet of the polling location: (campaign, wear or distribute campaign material, discuss ballot choices, wave signs, solicit petition signatures, etc.)

• Voters whose eligibility to vote cannot be immediately determined must be allowed to vote provisionally.

• Individuals who are eligible but un-registered may register and vote at any polling location by casting a ballot in a Conditional Voter Registration (CVR) envelope.

• Remember the rules for the Presidential Primary portion of the ballot are very different from any other election or portion thereof.

• Voters may use the CVR process to change name, address or party affiliation at the check-in station - no need to fully re-register.

Starting this coming Saturday, February 24,

Vote Centers in Voters Choice Act counties

will open for in-person voting.

• Exactly half (29) of CA counties now operate under the Voters Choice Act.

• List of Vote Center Counties: https://www.sos.ca.gov/voters-choice-act/vca-participating-counties/

The following details are for Vote Centers in Voters Choice Act counties, and for any other county that employs electronic poll books in the polls.

In Voters Choice Act and Electronic Poll Book Counties:

• Vote Centers and polling locations are provided throughout the county. Some are open for 11 days, some for 4 days, and some for just Election Day.

• The primary purpose of a Vote Center or polling location is to allow voters to Vote in Person, though many county elections offices will NOT make any effort to inform voters of that option. Many actively discourage voting in person.

Voters may vote at ANY location in the county.

• Vote Centers and certain other polling locations will have electronic poll books connected in real time to the county voter rolls and voter histories.

• Workers will check whether a ballot in the voter’s name has been received by the elections office. If the answer is no, that voter is qualified to vote in person.

• Voters are NOT required to surrender their VBM ballot and envelope.

• Upon check-in, the electronic poll book will record the voter’s in-person vote status and electronically deactivate the bar code on the return envelope sent to that voter.

If that envelope were to arrive at the elections office even one minute later, the scanner would identify it as an unqualified ballot, thus preventing double voting.

Vote Centers and polling locations with no ballot printer or

store of paper ballots will require voters to use a

voting machine or a Ballot Marking Device.

However, all of the above must now allow voters to cast their marked vote by mail ballot at the polls without the security envelope.

That way, everyone has access to a paper ballot

and can avoid the “machines”.

This is the best choice.

EIPCa urges all capable citizens to:

• VOTE
• Review EIPCa’s Citizen Observer Guidelines,
• OBSERVE as many Vote Centers or polling locations as you can every day they are open.

If you observe any procedures that appear to violate the above or concern you, please take detailed notes regarding the who, what, when, where and how of the perceived violation.

When you return home, please download the EIPCa Citizen Incident Statement,

fill it out using your detailed notes and send it in as instructed on the form.

Have a great voting and Observing experience,

and remember to be a VIP - Voter In Person

Just Say NOPE to the Envelope