Last Day To Register To Vote In California 2020: Deadlines, Info

Nick Garber
·2 min read

CALIFORNIA — Due to the coronavirus pandemic, every registered voter in California will receive a ballot in the mail ahead of this fall’s general election. And voters who aren’t registered yet still have time to do so.

The deadline to register to vote in California for the November general election is October 19, 2020, or 15 days before Election Day November 3.

Residents can register online here, in English or in one of nine other languages.

And if residents miss the October 19 deadline, no fear: California also offers same-day voter registration, which can be done on Election Day at your local polling place.

Voting by mail may be the norm in California this fall, although in-person voting will still be offered. Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order in May, requiring counties to mail ballots to all voters due to the pandemic.

Once mailed-in ballots are completed, they can be inserted into the provided envelope and sent to your local county elections office.

You can also return your ballot by:

  • Bringing it in-person to any nearby polling place or elections office before 8 p.m. on Election Day, November 3.

  • Dropping it into one of your county’s ballot drop boxes before 8 p.m. on Election Day.

  • Authorizing someone else to return the ballot on your behalf. (If you do this, you must fill out the authorization form on the back of the ballot envelope you receive.)

If you need to change your address to vote by mail, you can:

  • Write to your local county elections official

  • Fill out this online application, print, sign, and date it, and then mail it to your county elections office. (Also available in Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Tagalog, Thai, and Vietnamese)

  • Or, fill out the application printed on the voter information guide, which is mailed to every voter by their county elections office before the election

Visit the California Secretary of State’s website for more information about how to vote in this fall’s General Election.

This article originally appeared on the Across California Patch