Nearly 10,000 ballots have been voted and returned to the Merced County Elections Office for the June 2 Statewide Direct Primary, according to Mel Levey, the Registrar of Voters.
That statement was true as of early Tuesday morning, May 19, before the Times press deadline this week.
County officials were expecting to receive many more ballots by the time this newspaper reaches the hands of readers.
Nevertheless, there is still time to mail in that ballot — or drop it in — for the Primary.
“Merced County Elections offers voters a few different ways to turn in their ballot,” Levey explains. “Voters can return the ballot in the mail, drop it in one of our official drop boxes, or bring it to a vote center or the Main Elections Office in Merced.
“Locations and hours for drop boxes and vote centers can be found online at www.mercedelections.org or in the County Voter Information Guide that was mailed to all voters. Vote centers will begin opening on Saturday, May 23rd.”
Levey cautions voters not to wait too long if they want to mail their ballot in.
“I am advising voters that within seven days of Election Day, they should either take their ballot inside a post office and ask the staff to hand postmark it or take it to an official drop box or vote center. Due to US Postal Service postmark rule changes, it can take up to a couple of days for mail to be postmarked. You don’t want to leave it to chance when you are mailing close to Election Day. Take your ballot inside the post office for a hand postmark or get it directly into one of our boxes.”
There are 19 drop off box locations located throughout the county. Local vote centers opening this Saturday, May 23, include the American Legion Post 83 Main Hall, 939 W. Main St., in Downtown Merced; open every day from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day. The voting center at the Atwater Community Center, 760 E. Bellevue Road, will also open with the same hours of operation.
By May 30, a total of 14 voting centers will be open throughout the county through Tuesday, June 2, Election Day,
If you are still undecided on who to vote for … Check out our Election Special in this week’s Merced County Times newspaper, starting on Page C-1. There you will find all the local candidate profiles the Times has produced before Election Day!