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Welcome We Are Open for Business

October 9, 2012 - The first day of voting in Orange County has ended and while not extremely busy it was steady - and it is picking up. Voters came to our office in Santa Ana and we assisted 75 at our front counter. The majority of these voters requested a ballot to vote immediately because they will be traveling and out of town on Election Day. In addition our call volume into our voter assistance center has been on the rise. Today we handled 1,318 calls from voters -most wanting to know when they would receive their vote-by-mail ballot (which we mailed today - 629,575 in total).

Paperless Sample Ballots on the Rise

October 8, 2012 - We continue to receive daily requests from voters to opt out of receiving their sample ballots through the mail. As of today there are 1,779 Orange County voters who have chosen to receive an electronic version of their sample ballot. While encouraging this only represents just 0.11% of the total voter population. We save approximately $3.00 per voter when the opt out option is chosen. Opting out is fast and easy-to-do and can be done at ocvote.com/paperless.

Vote Early and Avoid Lines

October 7, 2012 - Tuesday is the kick-off of early voting in Orange County. Voters can request a vote-by-mail ballot online and they will receive one within 24-48 hours. We are also offering extended early voting polling place voting at locations throughout Orange County from October 22 - October 30. In addition, we will be providing full-service voting operations in our Santa Ana parking lot from October 29 - November 6. There are many options to cast a ballot before Election Day and avoid any possible congestion. One big difference from four years ago? We have almost the same number of voters but our vote-by-mail ballot requests have doubled (from 340,000 to over 620,000). 

Online Poll Worker Training

October 4, 2012 - Starting tomorrow our online poll worker training will begin. Our online training has expanded since we launched it in 2008. It is becoming a popular choice among poll workers - allowing them to take the training in their home or office at their leisure. The training contains multimedia content and detailed information about polling place operations. Poll workers also receive hands-on education through our Poll Worker Practice sessions, which are conducted throughout the County. As of this evening we have recruited 3,758 poll workers. Volunteering is fast and easy at ocvote.com.

Preparing for Tuesday Voting

October 4, 2012 - Vote-by-mail voting begins Monday, October 8th. Because Monday is a holiday we will mail all of the permanent vote-by-mail ballots and one-time applications on Tuesday. As of this evening we have received a little over 10,000 one-time applications for vote-by-mail ballots. This is on top of the 620,000 permanent vote-by-mail ballots we will be mailing. We will also be open for in-person vote-by-mail voting in our Santa Ana office (1300 South Grand Avenue, Building C) starting Tuesday at 8:00 a.m.

Online Voter Registration Surges

October 2, 2012 - Online voter registration went live in Orange County (and statewide) just 13 days ago. In that time period we have had 12,500 new voter registrations through the online system. As we described before a new voter can use the online system, which uses Department of Motor Vehicle data to tie the new voter record with the voter's signature that was captured at DMV when they obtained the license or state identification card. We then access these signatures when comparing against submitted ballots. New voters can access online registration through our home page at ocvote.com

So Why is This Difficult?

September 29, 2012 - Finalizing the translation of our ballot materials is a complex process with thousands of moving pieces. Under federal law we must translate all ballot materials into Chinese, Spanish, Vietnamese and Korean. This starts with an English base and then heads to court certified translators. From there a swirl of documents grows as we move through revisions, which can take more than a week. One candidate statement can expand to 7-10 documents in each language. We've developed our own custom software to track this process - a process that rivals even the largest publishing houses. This process will continue into this weekend. 

Wave of Sample Ballots in the Mail

September 27, 2012 - On the first day allowed under California law we have mailed the majority of our sample ballots to Orange County voters. We sent eight semi-truck loads of sample ballots (nearly 75% of our 1.6 million) to Santa Ana and Anaheim postal distribution centers today. This flood of sample ballots entered the postal system in a single day through a partnership with the post office. This is one of the largest single mailings we have made through the Orange County postal system. We will finish this mailing tomorrow, which means that Orange County voters should receive their sample ballot in the next few days. We have launched our online sample ballot access allowing voters to view their sample ballot electronically.

Election Day Registration? Not Quite Yet

September 26, 2012 - AB 1436 was signed into law by the Governor yesterday. This bill will allow same-day voter registration, which means that if a citizen is not registered to vote on Election Day they will be able to register and cast a provisional ballot the same day. There is a caveat, however, because the law does not become effective until the state completes the updated statewide voter registration database, which is expected to be completed sometime in 2015. Once it is allowed individuals not registered will have to cast their ballot in the main office or a satellite office of the "county election official". So there will be no same-day registration for the upcoming November election.

In or Out of a Mail Ballot Precinct?

September 25, 2012 - As we prepare to mail vote-by-mail ballots to voters we thought it might be appropriate to note some changes since the 2010 Census. Every ten years, following the Census, redistricting takes place (which is the process of drawing district boundaries to adjust representation based on Census data). Due to the number of changes that have taken place, including boundary changes to school districts, some precincts fell below the threshold of 250 voters per precinct. This means that nearly 1,000 additional voters must now use a vote-by-mail ballot as opposed to choosing between a polling place or vote-by-mail ballot. Voters that now fall into this category will receive a mail ballot with special instructions during the second week of October.