This came over the wire from the Registrar of Voters today…

Vote-by-Mail Ballots Mailed to Orange County Voters

Nearly 630,000 vote-by-mail ballots mailed today

SANTA ANA, CA – October 9, 2012 – The Registrar of Voters mailed a record number of vote-by-mail ballots to voters today. The number of voters receiving a permanent vote-by-mail ballot has doubled in the past four years.

“I believe we are going to see a record number of vote-by-mail ballots cast here in Orange County,” said Neal Kelley, Registrar of Voters. “For the first time we will likely see vote-by-mail voting surpass polling place voting in a Presidential General Election,” he continued.

Statewide data indicates that over 7.4 million ballots will be mailed to voters throughout California, which represents 43% of the registered voters in the state. Voters in Orange County should expect their vote-by-mail ballots to begin arriving in tomorrow’s mail.

The deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot for the November election is Tuesday, October 30, 2012. Voters can make a one-time request for a vote-by-mail ballot online by visiting ocvote.com/votebymail or by using the application found on the back of their sample ballot. Voters can also track the delivery and return of their vote-by-mail ballot online.

Orange County is the only election jurisdiction in the country to offer extensive real-time data online, which allows users to track data on the mailing and returns of vote-by-mail ballots – from party breakdowns to daily returns. Users can visit the Data Central section of the Registrar of Voters’ website by visiting ocvote.com/datacentral.

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