Deadline nears to vote for Modesto's next mayor

Modestans have only a few days to turn in their ballots in the mayoral runoff election between Brad Hawn and Garrad Marsh. The ballots must be received by Stanislaus County election officials no later than 8 p.m. Tuesday. As of Wednesday afternoon, about 25 percent of the almost 95,000 ballots had been returned.

A few reminders:

• According to county Registrar of Voters Lee Lundrigan, 680 voters sent in ballots without signing the envelope, as required. The election office mailed back the unsigned envelopes and about 430 people have returned their ballots so they will be counted. A reminder: Do not sign the ballot, but do sign the back of the envelope before sending it in.

• Because ballots must be received — not postmarked — by Tuesday, we would suggest that today is the last day to safely put your ballot in the mail and be confident it will get there on time. After today, we would suggest voters deliver their ballots in person to the county election office, 1028 I St., Suite 101, on Monday or turn them in from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the election office or at one of six other ballot receiving stations Lundrigan's office is setting up around the city: Dale Commons, 3900 Dale Road; King-Kennedy Memorial Center, 601 N. Martin Luther King Drive; Trinity United Presbyterian Church, 1600 Carver Road; Bethel Church, 2361 Scenic Drive; Modesto Covenant Church, 913 Floyd Ave.; or the Sylvan Improvement Club, 2545 Sylvan Ave.

• We may or may not know the results of the runoff Tuesday night. The election office has started opening the envelopes of the mail ballots that have arrived, but probably won't have time to deal with hundreds or thousands of envelopes that come on the last day. That means it could take a day or two to get those ballots counted and learn the winner.