Election Day 2020 is Upon Us, Make Your Vote Count

Election Day 2020 Could See Record Voter Turnout

The big day — Election Day — is upon us, the day for which so many have been waiting. The anticipation has been palpable among both voters and candidates.

Many voters have appeared to simply want to put this whole election behind them, casting ballots early just to be done with the whole issue.

By Oct. 21, the result was that more than 40 million ballots had already been cast in the United States, according to the United States Elections Project — nearly 3 for every 10 votes cast in total in the 2016 presidential race.

There are a lot of reasons that the country has seen a surge in early voting in 2020.

The most obvious is the coronavirus pandemic, which has spurred voters to seek out ways to reduce or eliminate the need to interact with other people when voting. There’s also likely an element of partisanship. President Trump’s false assertions about the risk posed by mail-in voting has pushed a divide between Democrats and Republicans on the process, according to the Washington Post. Polling has consistently shown that Democrats are embracing absentee and early voting, perhaps in part because Trump rejects it.

In Riverside County, approximately 1,200,000 vote-by-mail ballots were mailed to voters starting Oct. 5, for the presidential general election on Nov. 3. As of Nov. 23, 2020, a total of 1,214,213 ballots have been issued and 252,803 have been returned.

Completed vote-by-mail ballots must be received at the Registrar of Voters Office, any voter assistance center or ballot drop-off location within Riverside County no later than the close of polls on Election Day or be postmarked on or before Election Day and received no later than seventeen days after Election Day to be counted.

The Nov. 3 election is a countywide election.  Registered voters in all areas of the county are eligible to cast votes in this election. For questions about your eligibility to vote, contact the registrar’s office at (951) 486-7200.

This Election Day is not just about the next president. It is about who will lead Coachella Valley communities from Cathedral City to Coachella and from Indian Wells to Indio.

Make your vote count.