HOW TO APPLY
Any registered voter may vote by a Vote by Mail ballot. If you wish to vote on a Vote by Mail ballot you may apply in person, by mail, or by fax. An application for a Vote by Mail ballot is printed on the back of your sample ballot. You may NOT apply for a Vote by Mail ballot over the telephone. Applications are also available online. Simply go to our home page, click on the election you are interested in and print out the Vote by Mail application.
There is no specific format required for the application for Vote by Mail ballot, but any request must include the following:
·
voter's name
·
voter’s Tulare County residence
address
·
the address where the ballot is to be mailed
·
voter's signature
RETURNING THE VOTED VOTE BY MAIL BALLOT
So that a greater number of Vote by Mail ballots can be counted on election night the Elections Office requests that you return your voted ballot at least five days before the election. If you are returning your ballot by mail it is very important that you mail it not less than five days before the election to insure that the U.S. Post Office can deliver your ballot by Election Day. A Vote by Mail ballot may be returned to the Elections Office either through the mail or by the voter's personal delivery until 8:00 PM on Election Day. Vote by Mail ballots received through the mail after Election Day will not be counted.
On Election Day voters who have not yet returned their Vote by Mail ballot may personally deliver their own voted ballot, sealed in the signed identification/return envelope to any polling place in Tulare County between 7:00 AM and 8:00 PM. Any voter who, because of illness or other physical disability, is unable to return the ballot, may designate his or her spouse, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, brother, sister or a person residing in the same household as the absent voter to return the ballot to the elections official. (Elections Code 3017)
A portion of the ballots returned on Election Day will not be counted on election night, but rather in the days following election day. For example, ballots returned on Election Day after 1:00 P.M. will be counted after the election and included in the final official results.