Mail-in ballots have been sent out by the San Benito County Elections Office this week as early voting for the Nov. 5 election kicks off. Starting Oct. 7, residents can start heading to voting centers and dropping off ballots.
A total of 37,000 mail-in ballots were sent out earlier this week, according to San Benito County Clerk and Registrar of Voters Francisco Diaz. He says voting by mail has increased for the last few elections
“Two years ago, it was about 94%. Prior to that, it was in the 90s. So that’s continuing to increase ever since 2020…that number has been increasing,” Diaz says.
Included in the mail-in voting kits are a sample ballot, an official ballot and a voter guide.There are eight drop-off locations throughout the county:
- The San Benito County Free Library located at 470 Fifth St. in Hollister
- The Community Food Bank at 1133 San Felipe Rd. in Hollister
- Ridgemark Office parking lot at 102 Ridgemark Dr. in Hollister
- Fire Station #2 at 2240 Valley View Rd. in Hollister
- Windmill Shopping Center at 301 The Alameda in San Juan Bautista
- Aromas Fire Station at 492 Carpenteria Rd. in Aromas
- The San Benito County Elections Department at 1620 Lana Way in Hollister
- True Value Hardware located at 1264 Fourth St. in Hollister
Additionally, the county has voting centers open for early voters Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm the following locations:
- San Juan Bautista Community Center at 10 San Jose St. in San Juan Bautista
- The San Benito County Elections Department at 1620 Lana Way in Hollister
- Abundant Life Foursquare Church at 790 Bolsa Rd. in Hollister
- St. Benedict Catholic Church at 1200 Fairview Rd. in Hollister
As concerns over voter fraud have increased in recent years, Diaz says that county residents can drop by his office to observe the democratic process at work in transparency.
“I would like to assure everyone in the public that we take various meticulous steps to ensure that only one vote, one ballot gets counted per individual,” Diaz says.
“Every mail-in ballot that we receive gets signature-verified and then we notify the state of who’s voted…in our county. Then the state of California notifies the rest of the counties in California. So ultimately, if you vote in San Benito County, everyone else in the state of California gets notified, so that you cannot go and reregister somewhere else,” Diaz added
Diaz also invites locals to sign up for a ride-along with elections officials as they periodically collect ballots from drop-off locations this election season. More importantly, he encourages people to vote early for what is set to be a busy election.
“This is going to be an exciting election, and there might be a lot of people at the polls, so I encourage people to vote—if they want to vote in person on Saturday, Sunday or Monday before the election. Or on election day. But personally, I think they should come early just to beat some of those lines,” Diaz said.
Anyone who would like to participate in a ride-along can contact the San Benito County Elections Department at 831.636.4016
