Central Coast voters utilizing 24-hour drop off boxes to turn in ballots

SALINAS, Calif. (KION) With early voting underway on the Central Coast, there are still lingering concerns from some residents about ensuring their ballots are safe and counted.

Monterey County has provided at least 15 24-hour drop boxes in different cities across the region, and many took to those to turn in their ballots on Wednesday.

Boxes at Cesar Chavez Library, the Monterey County Health Department building and at the elections office in Salinas are just one of the ways officials are trying to make it easier for voters this year to make their voice count.

"The drop off locations are constantly picked up. So the closer we get to the election, the more frequent it will be. Or if we get a call notifying us that a ballot box is getting full, we will go and we will pick it up," said Monterey County Elections Outreach Services Manager Ayna Gutierrez.

These boxes are already getting full during the first few days of early voting. Elections officials already see more resident using those mail-in ballots even as some voters choose to drop it off in person.

"Monterey County has been pretty good when it comes to the elections as well as to the jury summons and stuff like that, they're very good," said Larry Tash, a Marina resident. "But I just wanted to make sure that it got in the right hands."

Voters have an extra tool this year to help track their ballot. You just log onto wheresmyballot.sos.ca.gov. You'll input some basic information about yourself before getting taken to a page where you can put an email and phone number to receive updates about your ballot, as well as times you want to be notified.

You are then able to view your ballot status.

"It will notify them once our office receives the ballots and once our machine processes them," said Gutierrez.

The system will also pick up if there are any discrepancies in your ballot. The elections office will then contact you.

Even with all this, some voters are still skeptical.

"You got all these ballots that have been discovered thrown away throughout the rest of the states, and I just feel that California having as many electrical votes that they got here, that that might be one of the things to look out for," said Tash.

To be clear, according to officials and other journalistic reporting throughout the nation, these claims of large scale fraud have been mostly unfounded. They are rare and largely individual incidents.

You must send your ballot through the mail by Election Day if you want to vote by mail. The elections office then has 17 days to receive those ballots to make sure they are counted.

PREVIOUS STORY: With an influx of mail-in ballots expected to reach county election offices throughout the next few weeks before Election Day on Nov. 3rd, the state is providing a way for voters to make sure their ballots are counted.

Voters can sign up at wheresmyballot.sos.ca.gov and get notifications about when your ballot is received and counted. Voters can also go to a number of 24-hour drop box locations to send their mail-in ballots.

There are at least 15 24-hour drop boxes throughout Monterey County and even more drop boxes at municipal government buildings like city halls during business hours.

KION's Josh Kristianto will have more details at 5 p.m. about how election officials are handling the influx.