Fateful election gets rolling as Sonoma County ballots go out in mail Monday

The angst-ridden 2020 election gets underway on Monday as counties finish mailing ballots to California’s more than 21 million registered voters, including nearly 300,000 in Sonoma County ― both all-time records for citizen engagement in the cornerstone of the democratic process.

Election Day is still four weeks away in what promises to be a tense interval given the vitriolic tone of last week’s presidential debate, heightened by widespread anxiety over the outcome and featuring a voting process unlike any other in California history.

Pursuant to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decree in May intended to make voting safe during the coronavirus pandemic, mail-in ballots are being sent to all voters and traditional polling places will be scrapped in favor of designated drop-boxes and voting locations here and in many other counties.

Responses to an informal Press Democrat online survey suggest not all voters are aware of the changes and some harbor suspicions over voting by mail, a longstanding process in California, but one that President Donald Trump has repeatedly faulted, without evidence, as a pathway to widespread fraud.

“The President is Right! California & Sonoma County cannot be trusted,” said one respondent who did not give his or her name.

Others remain confident in the system.

“I plan on mailing ballot. I believe nothing Trump says,” said John Foisy of Forestville.

The Press Democrat asked voters to indicate how they intend to cast their ballots and whether they have qualms about voting by mail.

“I plan on using a voting drop box. If anything, Trump’s criticism of voting by mail has increased my confidence in its effectiveness,” said Rose La Follette of Rohnert Park.

Several people indicated they intend to “vote in person” which may be done at 30 in-person voting locations, which will have ballots available, around the county.

There is record-breaking interest in the Nov. 3 election, evidenced by the 294,575 registered voters in Sonoma County, about 15,000 more than were registered for the primary election in March.

“It’s pretty typical before general elections that we see a big wave,” said Deva Marie Proto, the county’s registrar of voters

Oct. 19 is the deadline to register to vote in the November election. Statewide, 21.2 million Californians are registered to vote, an all-time record and an increase of nearly 3 million compared to a similar point in the last presidential election, Secretary of State Alex Padilla said in a statement.

With 84.56% of eligible voters registered to vote, the state reached its highest mark since the 1952 general election in which 85.28% were registered. Republican Dwight Eisenhower won a landslide victory over Democrat Adlai Stevenson that year, ending a string of Democratic Party wins that stretched back to 1932.

National polls show, however, abundant concern over mail-in voting. California is one of nine states, plus the District of Columbia, sending ballots to all registered voters, while 34 states are allowing voting by mail.

A Washington Post-Ipsos poll in late August found 90% of nearly 2,000 citizens were confident their vote would be counted if they voted in person on Election Day. The number dropped to 65% for voting by mail.

Regardless of the voting process, the poll found fewer than two-thirds of voters were confident the votes for president would be accurately counted this year.

Just 44% of 900 registered voters said they were confident mail-in votes would be accurately counted in an NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey in August. Fifty-one percent lacked confidence and 5% were unsure.

Voters are also worried about 16 election outcomes, including violent protests in response to the results (73%), tampering with mail-in ballots (65%) and foreign actors trying to influence the election (56%), according to a Morning Consult/Politico poll of nearly 2,000 voters last month.

The prospect of Trump refusing to leave office following a loss troubled 53% overall, with a sharp partisan divide between Democrats (77%) and Republicans (29%).

“We are seeing a rise of concern about election security, the election process and therefore concern about the election results,” said David McCuan, a Sonoma State University political scientist.

Trump’s attacks on mail voting have made an impact, he said, but the “big issues” for voters right up to Election Day are the ailing economy and the coronavirus pandemic, the latter underscored by the president’s positive test for COVID-19 last week.

Responses to The Press Democrat’s informal survey indicated local voters plan to handle their ballot in a variety of ways.

Among a group of 39 respondents, seven voters intend to put their ballots in the hands of the U.S. Postal Service, while eight plan to deposit them in a drop box and an equal number will deliver them to the county elections office.

Under state law, ballots will be counted as long as they are postmarked on or before Election Day and arrive at county elections offices no later than 17 days after Election Day.

Sonoma County voters have the option of returning their ballots to 20 secure 24-hour drop boxes at public buildings from Oct. 6 through Election Day or one of 30 voting locations that will be staffed from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2 and from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day.

These sites will replace up to 150 polling places operated during previous elections.

Proto made a point of saying that anyone whose home has just been destroyed by fire should contact the registrar’s office. Ballots addressed to those homes will be returned to her office as undeliverable.

Voting by mail is nothing new in Sonoma County, where 82.5% of registered voters are registered mail-in voters.

Caren McLerran of Larkfield is resolute on her intention to deliver her vote to the elections office.

“I don’t want to take any chances,” she said. “The most important election in my lifetime.”

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 707-521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @guykovner.