08.14.20 COVID-19 Briefing Live Stream Transcript

The County of Santa Clara
August 14, 2020
Live Stream - Briefing Live stream
10:00am PT

Eric Kurhi: I am Eric Kurhi Public Information Officer for the County of Santa Clara in just mailing out for the uh November election today on live with the county of Santa Clara, We have a Shannon Boucher register of voters who is gonna talk a little bit about voting. I made a pandemic good morning Eric thanks for being here So before we begin a quick note about the masks we removed them shortly before the program in. Our Uh our our our dialogue to be properly translated and so everyone can understand it is best uh after the program, we will be putting the masks back on so Shannon Good morning you have been registered here in Santa Clara County for over 5 years uh for those who are not familiar with the title, the registrar of Voter is in charge of all elections in Santa Clara County. That is federal and state and local elections now looking. November. Can you give us a little bit of a rundown on what people can expect to see on their ballots?

Shannon Bushey: Sure? yes, there is a lot to vote on this coming November election So, as you know, many of you know that there is president in Congress and Senate and Assembly, but even uh there are more contests on the ballot that include county and municipalities and school special districts and special districts are like water districts, for example, uh and these are all important races for everyone to vote on because. For example, in the school board, you are electing people who are going to be in control of the curriculum that your child is using in their school district, and you know how their schools are run So all of these contests, you know are very important to get out and vote. Yeah.

EK: Alright so voting by mail. That is a very hot topic these days given the pandemic all voters in the state of California will receive a ballot in the mail. However, that is not exactly new to Santa Clara County. um you know you guys. Working on and adopted the Voters Choice Act, which means people all receive well all registered voters will receive a ballot in the mail and that started with the March primary election. Can you tell us a little bit just about voting by mail in general and why the county made the switch?
SB:Sure yes, uh voting by mail is very easy and it is very convenient. We are going to mail every voter a ballot in Santa Clara County every registered voter that is and included with that is a free postage paid envelope. Encourage you to use the envelope and return your ballot. You do not have to worry about how much should I put on the ballot at the post office to mail it back to us um and I think part of why you know Santa Clara County switched to the Voters Choice Act or BCA as I call it uh last year, the board of Supervisors voted to enact the Voters Choice Act because it is uh it is you know it is a much more convenient method of voting for our voters and they get to choose. When and they get to choose.  where and how they are gonna vote uh so it is very easy and very convenient and very safe.

EK: Yeah. it is interesting how voting has evolved if you go back to the year 2000, most people still went to the polling place as I believe it Is four out of five but then going forward to 2018 elections and that was before everyone was getting a mail ballot um already only 20% were kind of going to the polling places um. So its gonna be a little bit different, though uh it was Voters Choice Act for Marsh but with the pandemic there is gonna be some differences in November. Can you kinda go through those for us?

SB: Sure? Um there is gonna be some differences, but they are really not major differences for November because our county had already implemented the Voters Choice Act in March. uh every person already gets a ballot in the state in the county of Santa Clara um so one of the differences. The vote centers will be open for 4 days uh beginning October 31st so Halloween. That is what you can all remember is Halloween. We are gonna start and get out there and vote and vote early So from October 31st to November 3rd, uh we will have vote centers approximately 100 of those open throughout the entire county. The second change is it is well We an election. we will call it postmark plus three is now postmark plus seventeen and what that means is that any voter who is returning their ballot by mail can get it postmarked. Uh by Election day and if it is received within our office in the next 17 days after the election, we are able to count it make it valid and  include that in the results so that may help if there is any um issues or delays in the post office delivering ballots to us, which we have not seen yet uh so it really does help the timing for them to send us the ballot and the third and final piece is called remote accessible Vote-by-mail  we have  had that for the primary election in other elections and what that is. For military and overseas voters who you know may not be in the area across oceans and and in other countries so they are able to access their ballot to a secure connection that we give to them to print it out so that will  election. so those are the three top key changes for November.

EK: Alright great postmark plus seventeen I mean that is certainly sounds like more than 2 weeks you know for for the post office to get the. Back to the registrars that being said a lot of people would rather drop their ballot off themselves either in one of the drop boxes that you guys offer or even in person a lot of people they still want to go to a polling place. It is a tradition or they like the act of going into this, the secret box and filling out and manually putting it in the ballot box. Can you uh can you tell us a little bit about you know the drop boxes as well as what kind of in-person voting opportunities there will be for people.

SB: sure. Um for the Dropbox, so I have been hearing a lot of talk also about the post office and delays in voting or mailing um so there is very easy way to get all of that to avoid any issues potential or you know actual or not uh with the post office by using one of our drop off boxes we have over ninety drop boxes already scheduled and plan for the November election and we have vote centers which you can drop your ballot off so our drop off boxes. Kinda like a mailbox like a mailbox size, they are secure um and you can drop off your ballot any one of those and our staff directly pick those up so they don't even go into the post office at all so if they drop in the drop box or at a vote center, they just right into our hands and it is actually just one of the easiest ways to vote.

EK: And in person. can you kind of tell us about the process and what steps have been taken given Coronavirus to make sure people. Are socially distance if they do want to go vote in person?

SB: Sure, so we are going to have approximately 100 vote centers for in person voting. I first do wanna say that the safest way to vote is to vote from home or vote from your residents. It is more convenient and like I said, you can just drop it off at the drop box, but for those of you that may need in person voting uh cuz we have accessible voting machines or maybe as I say the dog ate your ballot and you need a replacement. You can come to any one of our vote centers anyone throughout the county and we will be able to provide language assistance accessible voting and do replacement ballot. It is kinda like a full-service Vote center now instead of a polling place where you can only get your one ballot type and now you can go anywhere and vote. Alright. S yeah. November 3rd. It might sound like it is a little down the ways, but it is really not too far away.

EK: Uh what dates would you like to remind people of before November, you know for voter registration  deadlines or when they can expect to see a ballot arrive in the mail.

SB: Sure, So we are going to I would say it really begins with us mailing the county voter information guide, and that is the pamphlet the booklet that we get as voters that have all the information about candidates statements measures and arguments and impartial analysis. so we are gonna begin mailing those at the end of September and then really quick following up after that is going to be our ballots. We are gonna drop nearly a million ballots in the mail on. 29 days before an election so the next deadline um is that I think they should be aware of is Oh sorry, October October 19th is the last day to register to vote and if you get registered by that day, you wont have to use our conditional voter registration. so those are some of the key dates is you know in September beginning of October look for your pamphlet and then after October 5th, go ahead and look for your ballot to come in the mail and make sure you are registered. but I really wanna tell people now don't wait. All October to get registered, Do it now It is really you know the plan you should make a plan be prepared and right now you can go to our website at any time at WWW.STC WWW.STC Vote.Org and we have links to the Secretary of States online voter registration. We give you information on how to update your registration cuz if you have moved you should go ahead and update your registration so right now, it is really like the. To get prepared and be ready and have their plan to get out and vote and you know I did uh you had mentioned and I did not address the safety of the voters at the polling place. It is at the vote centers and at our office. so we at the registrar of voters, I mean we take it very seriously the safety of our voters and of all of our staff members and volunteers that come to work at our vote centers and come to our office. so we have. We are following all of the countys safety protocols, we are distributing personal protective equipment or PPE, you know, mass and face Shields and gloves and sanitizer for  all of our staff and our volunteers and even when you go to a vote center, which again is the safe way to vote but again vote by mail um at our vote centers, we will also be offering a PE. you know mass to our voters that may not have some so we are asking all voters that do want to come for in person voting to please work with. Please help prevent any spreading of the disease and where your mask when you come in to vote. So again, I just wanna make sure that everyone knows that we are very serious about the safety protocols.

EK: Now a lot of people do enjoy getting involved in the process they like to volunteer at the registrars office, and you guys usually do need quite a  quite a few uh seasonal volunteers. uh are you looking for people to come and help out and what are you doing to make sure? If they do come in and help out that everything is everything is safe.

SB: Yes. Oh. thank you for bringing that up cuz yes, we are always looking for volunteers and extra help or temporary workers to work for us at both our office and at the vote center. so we hire hundreds of people over probably over a thousand people to work at our vote centers. So it's as easy as going to our website, SC Vote.Org and we have information on there about how to volunteer you can also go to the county of Santa Clara's. Services Agency and on their page about the jobs specifications and information we have three different jobs specifications starting with election worker like election worker, one election worker two election worker warehouse, and you can apply there to work temporarily in our office, which could be for several months to working for just a few weeks at our vote center. So we definitely are interested in having a volunteers and staff come in and if you would like to actually. With us at the vote centers, you can call the vote centers with the safety protocol, we are having all of our staff members were personal protective equipment. We have Plexiglas facials at the counters where the voters come in and talk to our staff members and we are using social distance and and all the sanitizing protocols in the office. so we are uh definitely following the health and safety protocol.

EK: Alright, fantastic Um we can start to wrap things up here. Are there any kind of last thoughts you would like to share with voters, especially given you know the times we are living in. They are definitely strange and uh what should people consider right now?

SB: Yes. Well, that is uh Thank you for bringing that up Um you know I want you all to think about how important voting is people have marched for this. we have fought for this people have died for the right to vote, so I just. To say, even no matter what has been going on in the world before with wars and now we are in a pandemic we still need to exercise our constitutional right. We need to get out there and we need to vote and you know I say, get out there and vote you can vote from your own residents with the ballot that we mailed to you. so I just really wanna encourage  all of you to please get prepared. Make your plan. Take your registration now online and make sure you are registered. Get it updated and then look in the mail coming up in September and especially in the first 2 weeks of October for our pamphlet and for your ballots so that you can vote and vote early.

EK: Alright. Wise words? Well? Thank you so much for coming down and uh we wish you the best of luck going up to the election. It is gonna be a busy couple of months for you coming up right about now. Shannon Yes. definitely. Thank you. okay. so that is gonna wrap up this episode of Facebook Live with Santa Clara County. Uh remember we do have Spanish. Broadcast on Mondays and Wednesdays at eleven Vietnamese on Thursdays and we will be back on Monday uh final thought on our social media. You know it is gonna be really hot out there this weekend uh there will be cooling centers opening up throughout Santa Clara County and if you want more information about that be sure to check out our Facebook and Twitter feeds. Thanks for joining us. we will be back on Monday.