With the presidential election just a week away, California voters have several options when casting their vote on Nov. 3. Faced with multiple ways to cast a ballot this year, the question is: How can you ensure that your vote will be counted?

There will be three options to cast your ballots: return it by mail, drop it off at an official ballot drop box, or vote in person.

Still in the midst of a pandemic, California will be sending all voters a mail-in ballot for the first time. Approximately six out of 10 voters feel confident that the new system will work, says a recent survey conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California. However, questions have arisen recently about whether mail-in ballots will be counted on time, or at all.  

In another study done by NPR, 558,032 ballots were rejected during the March primary election due to incorrect ballot information or voters not getting their ballots in on time. Mail-in ballots are going to be the popular voting method this year, but they aren’t foolproof. According to NPR’s Pam Fessler, in the 2020 primary election this past March, approximately 102,428(0.01%) were rejected in the state of California alone. In the report, it was determined that most of the rejected ballots came from young, first-time mail-in voters. When a vote is rejected it’s usually because a signature is missing or it doesn’t match the one that’s on file.

According to the Orange County Registrar data, as of the post of this article, approximately 641,253 (35%) of the mail-in ballots have been received. Out of those votes, approximately 288.855 of the voters are from Democrats (45%), 186,261 from Republicans (29%) and the other 166,137 from other parties (26%). This is in line with previous projections that show mail-in ballots becoming more and more popular following each election. In the 2016 presidential elections, mail-in ballots made up about 29.6% of the vote in Orange County.

Orange County must have their mail-in ballots postmarked by the day of the election (Nov. 3) and received by the election offices within 17 days after the election in order for it to be counted. There will also be officially designated drop-off boxes around the county where mail-in ballots can be turned in. Registrar guidelines state that there be at least one drop box for every 15,000 voters. 

On Oct. 12, unofficial ballot drop boxes that weren’t affiliated with the county were spotted throughout Orange County and Los Angeles County. Locations of these drop boxes will be mailed to voters along with their ballots, and a list of all of the drop boxes is available through the OC vote website. Neal Kelley, head of the OC Registrar of Voters, remarked on the importance of using official ballot drop boxes saying that “tens of thousands of voters have already utilised official drop boxes.” Kelley expressed that posting or installing unofficial drop boxes is in violation of state law.

As in the March primary, poll stations will still be open for in-person voting from Oct. 30 to Nov. 3. Voters can also drop their ballots directly at these polling stations. However, unlike in March, polling stations have been changed to accommodate for social distancing. The locations of these new polling stations can be found in the voter’s information guide or via the Secretary of State website. The polling stations will be larger than before, as well as provide barriers between voters and the staff working the polls. 

Some recommended practices suggested by  the Registrar of Voters , “Vote-by-mail ballots can be returned with the prepaid postage envelope through the US Postal Service without needing additional postage, drop off at any official ballot drop box, drop off at any Vote Center, or drop off at the office in Santa Ana. Voters who wish to vote in person can visit any Vote Center starting Oct. 30, hours will be 8am to 8pm until Nov. 2 and then 7am to 8pm on Election Day, Nov. 3,” says Neal Kelley.

Voters can track their mail-in ballots or check on the status of their voter registration via the OCvote website.