Vote-by-mail ballots on their way to California voters

Voters across California will be receiving their vote-by-mail ballots in the coming days.

The ballots were sent out Monday across Central California.

"Voters can expect them here in the next two to three days, and and then can begin to make their choices," Merced County Registrar of Voters, Mel Levey said.

Those ballots can be returned by mail, at the county's elections office or in a drop box starting Monday.

"Ballots from those boxes will brought in and processed later this week," Fresno County Clerk and Registrar of Voters, James Kus said.

All drop box locations in Kings, Tulare and Fresno counties are open 24 hours a day, but that is not the case for all drop boxes in Mariposa, Madera and Merced counties.

"Certain drop boxes have hours that align with the facility they are located in," Levey explained. "So, for instance, if a city hall is open only from 8 am until 5 pm, then that drop box would be available during those business hours."

Merced and Fresno counties have similar security measures in place at many drop boxes to ensure your ballot is safeguarded.

"That includes tamper evidence seals that includes cameras and in-person security at some of these locations to overwatch these ballot drop boxes," Levey said.

Merced County will be collecting ballots daily from each drop box while Fresno County will rotate ballot pickups on a schedule for safety reasons.

"Anytime we interact with a drop box, it's a team of two and they have a tracking form where they're recording when they arrive, what they're picking up and where they transfer those materials to so there's always a paper record of where those are picked up," Kus explained.

If you don't want to vote by mail, you can vote in-person at your county's elections office starting Monday or wait for some polling locations to open October 26th.

You can also walk your vote-by-mail ballot inside Fresno County's elections office to use their new processing system that counts your ballot right in front of you, but you will have to wait in line.

Stay up to date on where your ballot is through the California Secretary of State .

If you don't receive your ballot, contact your local elections office.

To see where your nearest drop box is, click on your county below:

• Mariposa
• Merced
• Madera
• Fresno
• Kings
• Tulare

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