How Do I Submit My Ballot?

Every registered voter in the county will receive a vote-by-mail ballot. If you need a ballot re-issued and mailed, contact the Tuolumne County Elections Office by Tuesday, February 27.

You can submit your ballot in one of three ways.

• By Mail - no postage required
• At a Drop box location
• At a vote center or the Elections Office.

Click here to view the location of Calaveras vote centers and drop boxes.
Click here to view Tuolumne vote center locations and here to view the drop box locations.
For all other counties, click the following button to find the location of your vote centers and drop boxes by county or zip code.

Find Locations

Note: If hand delivered, vote-by-mail ballots must be received at a vote center or ballot drop-off location by Election Day, 8pm. If mailed, it must be postmarked by Election Day (November 4) and received within 7 days (November 11).

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What Are My Rights as a Voter?

Registered voters have clearly identified rights to protect their access to the vote. These include the right to cast a provisional ballot and to still vote if you are standing in line when the polls close. Be sure you know your voters rights before going to the polls. Please see the video to the left for a quick overview of your voters rights or go to this site for a list of your rights.

Note: Certain voters facing life-threatening situations may qualify for confidential voter status. For more information, contact the Secretary of State's Safe at Home program toll-free at (877) 322-5227 or visit Safe at Home.

If you believe you have been denied any of rights as a voter, or you are aware of any election fraud or misconduct, please call the Secretary of State's confidential toll-free Voter Hotline at (800) 345-VOTE (8683).

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Why Are Some Ballots Rejected?

At times, the Elections Office is unable to accept a vote-by-mail ballot for easily avoidable, but binding legal reasons.
You can avoid the most common reasons for having your ballot rejected by following these simple guidelines.

• Use Blue or Black ink No markers or highlighters. If you make a mistake, you can get a new ballot by submitting this written Replacement Ballot Application.
• Sign the envelope There must be a signature on the vote-by-mail ballot envelope for it to be counted. All signatures are compared to the voter’s signature on file before accepting.
• Sign the correct envelope If you have more than one voter in the home, you might sign the wrong envelope. Check the name before signing.
• Have the person sign before returning your ballot Any person returning your ballot must complete the declaration on the back of the envelope. They must also say how they know you. Ex. Spouse, Friend, etc.
• Return your ballot by the deadline If mailed, it must be postmarked by Election Day, Tuesday, March 5th, and received by March 12th. Mail early, and use the drop boxes or turn in at a Vote Center if you are turning in your ballot on Election Day. If hand delivered, your ballot must be received by 8 pm, March 5th.

Note: It is very important to mail your ballot in early. Our Sonora post office sends the mail to a larger post office for processing (and post marking), and ballots received late on Election Day may not be postmarked as having been sent in time to be counted.

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How Can I Track My Ballot After It's Submitted?

Californians are able to track their vote-by-mail ballots using a tool called Where's My Ballot. Just sign up for to have your ballot tracked here.

You will then receive automatic email, SMS (text), or voice call notifications about your ballot—when it is mailed, received, and counted.

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Is My Ballot Secure in California?

How secure is your vote in California? Compared to other states, California makes it easy for people to vote. But making voting simple for eligible citizens is, in fact, a complex task for state and county election officials.

While some have raised fears about breaches in voting system vendor software, the possibility of a software leak is a well-known election security risk that election officials plan for.

In California, every vendor’s voting system software source code is reviewed for potential security vulnerabilities. Hardware is stress- and volume-tested. The results of vendors’ tests are publically posted on the Secretary of State's website. Many election security experts view California’s voting system testing and certification process as the most rigorous and transparent in the nation.

California was also one of the first states in the nation to mandate voter-verified paper trails when utilizing computerized voting systems to address potential risks like a software leak.

As a final layer of security, California has required post-election audits ever since software vote counting was first introduced in the 1960s. Every county election office must select ballots from 1% of their precincts at random and publicly recount those ballots by hand to show the hand-counted totals match the software-counted results. Anyone can attend and watch this process.

California also has laws and regulations to protect and preserve the chain of custody of ballots and equipment and ensure two people are with ballots at all times, as well as strong penalties for election interference.
Please see the video on the left for an overview of election security in California.

Note: Some content for this entry was sourced from the California Voter Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisan organization.

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How Does the County Secure My Ballot?

Every county does things a little differently, from how they lay out their ballots and what their ballot return envelopes look like, to what kind of in-person voting options are available, whether it’s at neighborhood polling places or county-wide vote centers. These differences can contribute to misinformation and confuse voters. However, every county must also comply with California's strict election laws. Tuolumne County is no exception.

For a behind-the-scenes look at the safeguards employed at our Tuolumne County Elections, see the presentation on the left created by members of our Voter Services Committee, Jane Braga and Leonides Maciel Russell who have volunteered to work in the county elections office over the last several elections.

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