PD Editorial: Be sure you ballot gets cast — and counted

It’s only fitting in this strange year that we’re likely to have an Election Day — and night — unlike any other in recent history.

Voters accustomed to casting their ballots at a polling place are weighing the risk of that familiar civic ritual against the looming threat of the coronavirus.

Here in California, all 21.8 million active voters received their ballots in the mail for the first time — a change that almost certainly will continue after the pandemic.

As of Thursday, almost 40% of those ballots had been returned, according to tracking by Political Data Inc. The rate is even higher here in Sonoma County, County Clerk-Recorder Deva Marie Proto said, with 56% of the 300,586 mailed to voters returned as of Thursday.

There is a dividend for voting early: Sonoma County is likely to have fairly complete results on election night.

But they won’t be final, official results, which is shaping up as a possible point of contention at the national level.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly asserted, without evidence, that the risk of fraud is higher with mail-in ballots. Trump also is insisting on immediate results, most recently in a Monday tweet: “must have final total on November 3rd.”

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, one of Trump’s appointees to the Supreme Court, picked up on that theme in a concurring opinion Monday, when the high court ruled that Wisconsin cannot count mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day.

All 50 states plan to begin reporting results on Tuesday, but most states responding to a New York Times survey said it would be Wednesday before they have nearly complete returns. By the time polls close in Hawaii, it already will be Wednesday in the eastern time zone.

In some battleground states, including Michigan and Pennsylvania, officials said vote counting could take until Friday.

California law requires mail ballots to be postmarked no later than Election Day, but they can arrive as much as 17 days later and still be counted.

The final, official results in California won’t be certified until early December — after counties complete a series of audits and hand counts to ensure that the initial tallies were accurate. (Other states have similar systems for verifying election results.)

While there’s little doubt that Joe Biden will carry the Golden State and capture its 55 electoral votes, it’s not uncommon for contests to remain undecided until all the ballots are counted.

In 2018, Sonoma County had five cliffhangers: city council races in Santa Rosa and Windsor and tax measures in the Monte Rio, Rancho Adobe and Valley of the Moon fire districts. The closest contest — the Valley of the Moon tax measure — was decided by just 11 votes out of 8,500 cast.

If you haven’t voted yet, there’s plenty of time — and multiple options.

Proto said mail-in ballots received by Thursday would be processed and counted on election night, with the rest included in post-election updates. Ballots also can be dropped off at 20 official collection boxes around the county, and 30 in-person voting centers will be open from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. daily beginning Saturday, and from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. on Election Day.

To find a collection box or a voting center, go to sonomacounty.ca.gov/wheretovote.

You can track your ballot at wheresmyballot.sos.ca.gov.

However and for whomever you plan to vote, we urge you to cast your ballot. Free elections are the foundation of American democracy.

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