Five counties in California–Sacramento, Napa, Madera, Nevada, and San Mateo–were involved in a pilot program to increase turnout in the recent primary election. The program, called Voter's Choice, mailed ballots to every registered voter. Voters then had a choice. They could mail the ballots back, they could drop them off at designated locations, or they could vote in person at an actual polling place. These voting centers were open 11 days before the election day.
If you mailed in your ballot, you could check a website to see if the ballot had been had been accepted. You, of course, had to be registered, and your signature on your ballot was checked against the signature on your registration to prevent cheating.
Turnout increased dramatically. Sacramento, Napa, and Nevada counties all had turnouts of over 46%. Nevada County, where my brother-in-law Tom and sister-in-law Kayla live, almost doubled its turnout.
A possible drawback is the time it takes to count the ballots, partly because of the large number turned in on election day. In Nevada County the ballots are still not completely tallied from the election on Tuesday.
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