In-person, early voting begins

With less than one month until the general election, early voting in California opened up Monday.

California voters will decide the fate of 17 state propositions, ranging from recreational marijuana to the death penalty.

The state voter guide, which is more than 200 pages, details each of the propositions. It also has write up’s on the two women running for Senate. Another equally thick voter guide has information about three Monterey County measures – fracking, marijuana and TAMC funding.

“This is unprecedented, an extremely large number of state and local measures,” said Claudio Valenzuela with the Monterey County Elections Office.

There’s also an unprecedented number of voters. The secretary of state’s office says more than 18 million Californians are registered to vote. In Monterey County, it’s more than 180,000. Santa Cruz County has more than 85,000 registered voters.

“We have never had this many people registered to vote as far as I remember in my 16 years in Monterey County,” Valenzuela said. “I think it’s a testament to the good work of our outreach but also the people that are taking an interest in voting and getting informed. So let’s hope that these number of registered voters translate into a higher turnout. That is our hope.”

Valenzuela said online registration has also made it easier for voters.

One of the people who is taking interest in politics this year is Tony Acosta. He said he wanted to make sure his voice was heard from the voting booth.

“Because I want to tell the world that what I’m doing today is showing Mr. Trump ‘that Mexican thing,'” Acosta said. “He keep mentioning it, so this is the proof. This is the ‘Mexican thing.’ We are going to vote early to make sure that we have all the votes we need to defeat him.”

While voters are encouraged to bring their sample ballot to the voting booth, they should put their phone away.

While a 125 year old ban on showing marked ballots has been reversed, it doesn’t take effect until next year.

Voters in Monterey County can do in-person early voting at the Elections Office on South Main Street. Voters in Santa Cruz County can vote early at the county building or pick up a ballot at the Watsonville City Clerk’s Office. Elections offices will mail out ballots to voters beginning Tuesday.

ORIGINAL POST:

In-person, early voting began today on the Central Coast. Some people showed up at the Monterey County Election’s Office on South Main Street.

The official California Voter Guide is a whopping 222 pages long and details 17 propositions, including Prop. 64, Marijuana Legalization.

The Monterey County ballot is three pages, front and back.

“I definitely did my homework, I came prepared. I take my voting responsibility very, very seriously,” said Steven Landi.

Voters in Santa Cruz can cast their ballots early and in-person at the election department in the county building.

KION’s Mariana Hicks will have more on this story on KION News Channel 5/46 tonight.