Santa Maria Election Office Closed Despite Upcoming Special State Vote
Jarrod Zinn
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – California’s special election is on November 4th, and some Santa Maria voters are wondering why the local election office is closed.
It boils down to how much time election offices had to prepare.
County officials say this office’s closure is not connected with the government shutdown, nor with the Trump administration’s funding cuts.
And the office still exists, it just isn’t staffed right now.
It’s all about the timing.
The vote to give the state legislature authority to draw or re-draw congressional voting district lines for California until 2030 is being called a “special” statewide election.
“Every registered voter did receive a mail in ballot,” says Kelsey Buttitta, public information officer for the County Of Santa Barbara. “So you receive that ballot in the mail. And there are several ways to return that mail in ballot.”
Some Santa Maria voters who have attempted to cast their vote in person early have found the local election office at the Joseph Centeno government building “closed until further notice.”
“There is only one measure that is on this,” says Buttitta. “There’s no candidates. It is not our normal election process.”
Officials say this is primarily because this was not a planned election and the time it takes to fully staff these offices like they do for any other election simply wasn’t available.
“It really just comes down to this being a special statewide election that we did not have the lead up time that we normally do for a normal election cycle,” says Buttitta. “When it comes to Election Day on November 4th, our Santa Maria office and our Santa Barbara office are going to be polling places, along with 50 additional polling places throughout the county.”
County officials say ballots can be returned early by mail or at a drop box which includes the ones in Santa Maria and Lompoc, as they’ve been open since October 6th and will be collected from on November 4th.
The Latest Breaking News, Weather Alerts, Sports and More Anytime On Our Mobile Apps. Keep Up With The Latest Articles by Signing Up for the News Channel 3-12 Newsletter.