An Election Day like Stanislaus County has never seen before finally arrives
It’s definitely a different Election Day for Stanislaus County in November 2020.
Instead of walking into a polling place, voters are dropping ballots at boxes for an all-mail election.
Instead of having victory parties at local restaurants, most candidates are staying home.
And instead of waiting until close to the end of the voting period, thousands of people already have submitted their ballots.
(Latest on polling places, other Election Day info)
Like just about every other aspect of daily life, the coronavirus pandemic has altered how votes will be accepted and counted for the general election on Tuesday.
At the same time, the election has seen unprecedented interest, with early voting on record pace, officials said. And more people state residents have registered to vote, even as they report feeling a heightened sense of anxiety over the results.
As of Oct. 19, a record 22,047,448 Californians were registered to vote, the Secretary of State’s office announced Friday. This represents an increase of 2,635,677 registered voters since the last Report of Registration at a similar point in a presidential election cycle (October 24, 2016).
This year, 87.87% of eligible Californians are registered to vote. This is the highest percentage of eligible citizens registered to vote heading into a General Election in the past 80 years.
“There are more voters registered in California than the number of people in the state of Florida!” Secretary of State Alex Padilla said in a statement on Friday. “Record registration and a historic election points towards a big voter turnout.”
More than 11 million California voters had returned their ballots as of Sunday.
Election return watch parties, a hallmark of the democratic parties, also are looking quite different this year. Most local candidates are staying home to watch returns.
Rep. Josh Harder, D-Turlock, is planning a press conference with limited in-person access at his campaign headquarters shortly after 8 p.m. “Because of social distancing protocols, Congressman Harder will not host an election night party in person,” the campaign said in a news release.
Harder’s challenger in the race for District 10, Ted Howze, will not have any event that is open to the press, according to his campaign spokesman.
The first round of results is expected to be announced at 8 p.m. Continuing coverage of the election will be available throughout the evening at modbee.com.
The Sacramento Bee contributed to this story.
This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 4:38 AM.
