Ballots must be turned in by Thursday to be tallied Election Night

Sonoma County voters who want their choices to be reported on Election Night must have their ballot to the county elections office by 5 p.m. Thursday, elections chief Deva Marie Proto said.

Ballots placed in one of 20 secure drop boxes by Wednesday also will be included in the report issued after the polls close at 8 p.m. on Nov. 3.

Sonoma County’s early voting trend continued Tuesday as 153,136 ballots have now been processed, accounting for 51% of the 300,586 registered voters.

“Unprecedented. It’s exciting,” said Proto, the registrar of voters.

Two weeks ago, Proto said voter response was “off the charts” when about 45,000 ballots — 15% of the total at the time — had been returned just 10 days after they had been mailed to voters.

This is California’s first all-mail election, intended to protect public health during the coronavirus pandemic, but more than 83% of Sonoma County voters are registered as permanent mail voters.

The Thursday deadline is only a concern for voters who want to be included in the Election Night reports, Proto said.

Updates will subsequently be issued starting about Nov. 6, she said, noting that the signatures on all mailed ballots must be verified before the count can begin.

Voting at 30 in-person voting locations will begin Saturday, with staffing from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through Monday and from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Proto said she intends to get all votes received by Thursday processed on Friday so her staff can shift to the in-person locations Saturday.

Ballots returned by mail must be postmarked on or before Election Day and will be counted as long as they reach the elections office by Nov. 20.

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