Vote-by-Mail Returns Build as Election Nears; But Many Towns Lack Drop Boxes

Update: Also lacking drop boxes: Albion, Anchor Bay, Elk, Manchester/Irish Beach, and Westport.

UKIAH, Calif. — Mendocino County is "in full swing" with the Nov. 3 election, with vote-by-mail ballots already coming back in large numbers, Katrina Bartolomie, the county's assessor, clerk-recorder and registrar of voters, told the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors on Oct. 20.

Bartolomie said the county's ballot drop boxes are drawing heavy use. At one box, elections workers collected more than 300 ballots in a single day — emptying it at 8 a.m. and returning to find that many more by 4:30 p.m. She said she did not yet have a countywide total of ballots returned because she had been unable to run the report before the meeting.

She described drop boxes as both a convenience and a cost saver. When voters use them, "it's only election personnel or elections officials that touch their ballots," she said, adding that the practice saves the county money and reduces reliance on the U.S. Postal Service. The boxes are emptied a couple of times a day by two-person teams who count and log the envelopes, she said. Ballots left at city halls are handled by city clerks, who are also considered elections officials, and collected ballots are secured in interior boxes and picked up two to three times a week depending on volume.

Not every community has that option. In response to a question from the board, Bartolomie said Laytonville and Leggett have no drop box and must vote by mail, with the nearest box in Willits. Covelo also lacks one. Drop boxes must be well lit and under 24-hour surveillance, she said — requirements the county has not been able to meet in those areas. "That's our thing that we need to figure out a way to do later on if we can," she said.

Mendocino County has three drop boxes in Ukiah — at the City of Ukiah at 300 Seminary Avenue, the county administration building at 501 Low Gap Road, and Mendo-Lake Community College at 1000 Hensley Creek Road. There is also a drop box at city hall in Fort Bragg at 416 N. Franklin Street, in Willits at 111 E. Commercial Street, and in Point Arena at 451 School Street.

Bartolomie also reminded voters that electioneering is barred within 200 feet of a drop box or polling place, and said signs marking the limit are posted and will be sent to polling locations.