Thumbnail photo by Monique Camarena
Days after the U.S. Supreme Court made a decision some worry could lead to a mass purge of valid voters ahead of the midterm election, Alissia Northrup sought to allay any concerns Del Norte County voters may have.
Though she hasn’t received guidance from the California Secretary of State as of Tuesday, the county clerk, who was elected to her fourth term in June, says she can’t start kicking people off the voter roles this close to an election.
Still, with her office set to start mailing out ballots in less than a week, Northrup acknowledged that voting is fraught this year. Mentioning worries people have about the U.S. Postal Service potentially rejecting their ballots — gleaned from articles on the Internet earlier — she urged people to call or visit her office.
“What I would recommend (is) anybody can bring (their ballot) into my office at any time during the 30 days before the election,” Northrup told Redwood Voice Community News. “Or you can drop it off at any polling place on Election Day.”
Ballots will be mailed to more than 15,000 Del Norte County voters starting Monday. Northrup and her staff will have drop boxes set up at the Elections Office starting Monday. And, if needed, people can suspend a ballot they received in the mail and get a replacement over the counter starting Monday.
The last day to register to vote in order to cast a ballot in the midterm is Oct. 19.
Northrup is also looking for poll workers, noting that while “we seem to be doing pretty good,” the election is still a month away and “things can happen.”
“We’d rather have more than not enough,” she said. “It’s a long day, so if there are friends or relatives and they want to work a buddy system — if they want to buddy up and do half days — that’s something we’ve been looking into.”
Poll workers can be as young as 16 if they have their parent’s permission as well as their school’s permission — some teachers offer extra credit, Northrup said.
Northrup spoke with Redwood Voice after the Supreme Court ruled Friday that the Trump administration could deploy an online system that includes citizenship information such as Social Security numbers and other sensitive data ahead of the midterm election. After the ruling, the New York Times reported that states would be able to use the system to hunt for ineligible voters.
According to her, under California Elections Code she can’t process a national change of address a month before an election unless the voter makes a request.
“If they come in and re-register, we can make the change,” she said. “If they go onto the Secretary of State website, it’s their request.”
Northrup spoke to another Supreme Court ruling that occurred on Sept. 14. This decision blocked the use of USPS-approved ballot envelopes that included the name, address and bar code for each eligible voter. If the information didn’t match exactly with data uploaded to a federal database, those ballots would not be delivered.
Ordering ballot envelopes is one of the first things Northrup and her staff does to prepare for an election. They come from ProVote Solutions, a Paso Robles-based company with a manufacturing facility in Porterville, Northrup said.
Writing for SCOTUSblog.com on Sept. 14, Amy Howe reported that the Supreme Court’s decision upheld a preliminary injunction from U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani that prohibited the Trump administration from making states comply with requirements for how ballot envelopes are designed.
In his request for a stay filed Sept. 6, Solicitor General D. John Sauer stated that “the Postal Service’s final rule imposes only modest envelope-design and addressee-information requirements for federal-election ballots sent via U.S. mail.”
The plaintiffs in the original lawsuit, a group of 23 states led by California and the District of Columbia, argued that issuing a stay on Talwani’s order would lead to chaos ahead of the November election.
Speaking to Redwood Voice on Sept. 15, Northrup agreed with the plaintiffs.
“If we were to try to institute something like that for November, it could have been a disaster,” she said. “We would basically have to start from scratch.”
For those casting their ballots through the mail, Northrup urged them to do so early. While her office is able to accept ballots for seven days after the election, the postmark must show that it was sent in no later than Nov. 3.
Since Del Norte County is more than 50 miles away from California’s six U.S. Postal Service processing facilities, ballots sent in the mail on Election Day may not be processed until after.
“If it’s down to the wire, I highly suggest you bring it into the office or to any polling location on election day,” Northrup said. “It doesn’t have to be your polling location. They’re open throughout the whole county.”
Northrup also urged voters to track their ballot via Ballottrax.
“I’m signed up for it myself,” she said. “You’ll get a text or a phone call that says ‘your ballot has been sent out, the registrar has received your ballot, your ballot has been accepted’ — you can keep track of where it’s at.”
Finally, Northrup also spoke to emergency legislation California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed on Sept. 19 that protects voters from harassment and interference at the polls.
“It’s all about protecting voters,” Northrup said, adding that anyone feeling harassed should report it to the authorities. “If you feel you’re being pressured to vote a certain way, the same thing. That’s not OK either.”
In addition to voting for California governor as well as their state senate, state assemblyman and their U.S. Congressman, Del Norters will be voting for a plethora of local offices. Countywide races include the Crescent City Harbor District as well as three seats on the Del Norte County Unified School District Board of Trustees, though only one position is contested.
Crescent City voters, meanwhile, will be able to cast a ballot for two four-year seats and one two-year seat.
For more information about the upcoming election, call (707) 464-7216 or visit the Del Norte County Elections Office at the Flynn Center, 981 H Street in Crescent City.
Information is also available online by clicking here.
