Vote-by-Mail Ballots for November Election to Go Out Tuesday

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By Lara Cooper, Noozhawk Staff Writer | @laraanncooper

County elections officials predicting voter turnout of more than 80 percent

Santa Barbara County voters who are registered to vote by mail should be receiving their ballots by the end of this week.

About 107,000 vote-by-mail ballots will be mailed out Tuesday — not on Monday because of the Columbus Day holiday — and voters should expect to have them by Wednesday or Thursday, according to Joe Holland, the county’s Registrar of Voters.

The deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 6 election is Oct. 22. Click here to register online at the California Secretary of State’s Office. Registration can also be completed in person at any county Elections Office.

Voter registration cards also are available at U.S. Postal Service offices, public libraries and Department of Motor Vehicles offices, and can be requested by telephone by calling 800.722.8683.

There are about 190,000 registered voters in the county, about 57 percent of the total population, Holland said.

As far as turnout, Holland looks to the past to estimate what this year might bring. Turnout in 2004’s presidential election was about 80 percent, with about 86 percent participation in 2008.

“(This year) will probably be somewhere in between,” he told Noozhawk, adding that people with vote-by-mail ballots must have them mailed in by Nov. 3.

— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.

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