- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Record number of Californians registered to vote; county elections office to be open Sunday
Secretary of State Alex Padilla reported on Friday that 22,047,448 Californians had registered to vote as of Oct. 19.
That’s an increase of 2,635,677 registered voters since the last report of registration at a similar point in a presidential election cycle; that previous report was issued on Oct. 24, 2016.
Padilla said 87.87 percent of eligible Californians are registered to vote, which is the highest percentage of eligible citizens registered to vote heading into a general election in the past 80 years.
The report shows that of the 48,342 Lake County residents eligible to vote, 37,262, or 77.08 percent, were registered by Oct. 19.
Of Lake County’s registered voters, the latest statistics show that 14,398, or 38.64 percent, are registered as Democrats, 11,180 or 30 percent are Republicans, 1,713 or 4.6 percent are American Independents and 292, or 0.78 percent, are Green Party members.
Padilla said California is seeing a surge in early voting. "Given the anticipated big voter turnout, along with physical distancing and safety measures at in-person voting locations, there will likely be longer lines and wait times on Election Day. Californians should not wait – they should vote early. Think of Nov. 3 as simply the last day to vote,” said Padilla.
On Friday, Padilla also released the latest vote by mail statistics for the state.
Padilla’s Friday report on vote by mail statistics showed that a larger number of voters – 22,387,925 – than shown in the Oct. 19 report have been issued vote by mail, or absentee, ballots.
Altogether, 10,076,108 of those ballots have been returned and 9,992,052, or 99.17 percent, have been accepted by the elections offices across the state, according to Padilla’s report.
Padilla said California’s voters have returned their ballots in the following ways:
– Mail: 5,169,481.
– Drop boxes: 4,220,928.
– Drop off locations: 499,404.
– Vote center dropoff: 158,098.
– Fax: 25,035.
– Other: 3,162.
In Lake County, 37,711 vote by mail ballots were issued, the Secretary of State’s Office reported.
The state said 12,522 of those ballots have been returned by Lake County voters, with 12,388 – or 98.93 percent – accepted.
Lake County’s voters have so far returned the most ballots, 8,918, by mail, with 2,812 returned in the five drop boxes stationed at the Lakeport courthouse and the four libraries, 763 returned at a dropoff location and 29 by fax, the state’s report showed.
For those who missed the October voter registration deadline, they can still participate in this year’s election.
Padilla said 2020 marks the first year that voters can complete the “Same Day” voter registration process and cast their ballot at any in-person voting location in the county or the county elections office through Election Day.
In order to facilitate voters turning in their ballots or wanting to vote in person, Lake County Registrar of Voters Maria Valadez has opened her office this weekend.
Valadez told Lake County News on Saturday that about five people came in to vote that day but 20 stopped in to return their voted ballot.
She said her office also will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
The Lake County Registrar of Voters Office is located in Room 209 on the second floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport, telephone 707-263-2372.
On Election Day, there will still be 22 polling places around Lake County – the same number as in past elections – for those who want to vote in person, Valadez said.
For more information on the election, visit the Lake County Registrar of Voters website.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.