Don't be Rejected

Ballots in envelopes with no signature are automatically rejected. It happens hundreds of times in every election.

• Look at the back of the envelope (where you will seal it). Be sure to:

• find the spot where it asks for your signature

• Using only blue or black ink:
• Sign it
• Write in the address at which you are registered to vote
• Date it

Black or Blue. It says so right in the instructions on the ballot. Believe them, it matters.

Ink Pen, not markers or highlighters.

Fill in the entire oval.

No X’s or √'s

Oh, and NO red ink.  

Don’t lose your vote over the wrong pen! 

BTW, if you make a mistake, you can get a new ballot. Anytime on or before 1 week before election day, go online and request a replacement ballot.

You do not have to MAIL your mail-in ballot!

There are official Ballot Collection Boxes (Drop Boxes) all over Santa Clara County, and you can drop your ballot off in any of them. (Find them HERE) 24 hours a day starting a month before election day. 

Ballot Boxes are already open 24/7. However, they will be emptied for the last time at 8:00 pm on ELECTION DAY, the same time the polls close. Any ballot dropped in after that will not be counted.

VOTE EARLY!  DROP OFF YOUR BALLOT EARLY!

Your signature on the envelope will be checked against the one in your registration file. It's got to be close. Two things to check:

1. If you’re not sure what your official registration signature looks like, look at your driver’s license or state ID. For most people that's what's on file, so make sure your ballot envelope signature looks close to that signature. Make sure your signature matches
2. Your name is pre-printed on the return envelope, just below where they ask you to sign. Check it. 

That is your official name in the voter roster. It’s probably the name you signed when you registered.

If it says “Robert,” you shouldn’t sign as “Bob.” If it shows your middle initial, use it in your signature. 

First - Only use the special return envelope that came with your ballot. No other envelope will be accepted.

Second - If you live alone, and you use the envelope provided, ignore the following . . .

BUT, if there's more than one voter in your home, everyone needs to know this:

Match Ballot Code to Envelope Code

Every mail-in ballot comes with a return envelope that has a code number on it that must match the number on the matching ballot sheets.

Sometimes members of the same household accidentally mix up their election materials and return their ballot sheets in another household member’s envelope. That invalidates your ballot!

Double check to make sure the code number on your ballot sheets match the code number on your return envelope.

1. Sign the envelope before you send it

Ballots in envelopes with no signature are automatically rejected. It happens hundreds of times in every election.

Sign your mail-in ballot envelope

Look at the back of the envelope (where you will seal it). Be sure to:

find the spot where it asks for your signature

Using only blue or black ink:

Sign it

Write in the address at which you are registered to vote

Date it

If you live alone, this error probably won't happen to you.

BUT, if there's more than one voter in your home, sheets of pages from other people's ballots can accidentally get mixed up. Sheet B of my ballot may end up in your envelope, and the reverse. That can invalidate both our ballots!

Do this, just to be safe:

1. Make a separate stack of sheets for each code number. Check the code numbers on every sheet of every mail-in ballot. Make sure they all match
2. Check that each stack has all the ballot sheets (and no extras).
3. Ballot sheets are "numbered" at the top corners of each page using letters, starting with A
4. Match the ballot stack's code number with the code number on a return envelope
5. Take your ballot stack and matching envelope, make sure you've voted, stuff the envelope, sign, date, and seal it 
6. Take it to a Drop Box or a Vote Center anywhere in Santa Clara County, or mail it if you have enough time.
7. Track your Ballot  

If any of the previous 10 problems (or others) happen, you will get a letter (yes, a real, in the US mail, aka snail-mail, PAPER LETTER) from the County Registrar of Voters, telling you:

• the reason your ballot was rejected,
• how you can fix the problem,
• the deadline for getting that done (it will be a VERY SHORT time)

So, after you send off your mail-in ballot: 

1. Go to Where's My Ballot and sign up to get updates on your ballot's status by text, email, and/or phone call
2. Start checking your USPS mailbox every day for any letter from the Registrar of Voters. The letter could come anytime up through a month after election day. If you get one, Respond Immediately! 

While mail-in ballots can't be counted until election night, they can be checked for errors starting a week before. So you could be contacted before election night if, for instance, there's no signature on your envelope. All they'll want you to do is come sign your envelope so it can be counted (yes, they really do want to help). 

Since county elections officials are required by law to turn in the results of the ballot count by the 31st day after the election, rejections from a September 14th election, for example, must be resolved before October 15th.