Solid numbers won’t be known until next week, but it looks as if the Bush-Kerry presidential election of 2004 will retain its title as the biggest election in San Diego County history—as far as the most registered voters.
“I do not believe we will exceed the 1.51 million record in November 2004,” county Registrar of Voters Deborah Seiler said Thursday. “We have not yet received all the applications received by the Secretary of State’s Office on their generic forms, but we had about 44,000 affidavits as of the close [at midnight Monday].”
She said her office by Tuesday or Wednesday will have a “very good estimate” on registered voters in the county.
Some 1.488 million county voters were registered in 2008, so that mark appeared ready to fall, since the latest count—in late September—showed 1.478 million voters, or 9,202 short of the figure.
In 2004, incumbent George W. Bush beat Democrat John Kerry 52.3 percent to 46.2 percent in San Diego County.
Meanwhile, the county reminded voters that the deadline for requesting a mail ballot for the Nov. 6 General Election is Tuesday, Oct. 30.
The county listed several ways to apply:
- Complete the application included on the back of the sample ballot and voter information pamphlet mailed to each registered voter.
- Download an application from the Registrar of Voters’ website.
- Fax or mail a letter to the Registrar of Voters. The request must include the voter’s name, registered address, name and date of the election, the address where the ballot is to be mailed, and the voter’s signature.
- Applications and letters can be faxed to (858) 694-2955 or sent to the Registrar of Voters at P.O. Box 85520, San Diego, CA 92186-5520.
“By state law, applications must be physically received by the Registrar of Voters no later than 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 30. They cannot be simply postmarked on that date,” the county said in a news release.
Those who miss the deadline can vote in person at the Registrar of Voters office at 5201 Ruffin Road, Suite I, in Kearny Mesa between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, or from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3, or at their neighborhood election poll on Nov. 6.
Voters who are already permanent vote-by-mail voters do not need to reapply. Their ballots will be mailed automatically.
For voters who need language assistance, election materials are also available in Spanish, Filipino, Vietnamese, and Chinese.
To learn more about voting in the Nov. 6 election, visit sdvote.com, or contact the Registrar of Voters at (858) 565-5800.
