Mail-in Ballots Course Through County

If 40 percent of registered voters mail in their ballots, it would be a rite of passage in San Mateo County, says Elections Manager David Tom.

Tom’s team is collecting the ones that began arriving a few days ago, and has counted about 20,000 so far.

“Local elections unfortunately don’t have very high turnouts, although in my opinion they’re very important,” Tom said.

“Local elections affect voters day-to-day lives; we’re talking about school boards, city councils; those are the decisions that make a difference in the every day things.”

He says the reality of it is that a rate of about 29 percent of registered voters is normal for this type of election.  In 2009, the turnout rate was 27.8 percent of 278,000 registered voters in the county, according to shapethefuture.org. 18.26 percent of those were mail in ballots. 

In 2007, it was a larger set of voters, about 309,000.  But the voter turnout rate was only about 24 percent, he said.  About 15 percent were absentee ballots, which are commonly mailed in. 

The San Mateo County elections office will be entering the data from the they've received from now through 8 p.m. on Election Day. Official results will be announced as they are entered into the computer system.

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