Politics

Last Day To Register To Vote By Mail Tuesday

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published May 28, 2012 at 3:00 AM PDT

This story was published more than 11 years ago.

Today is the last day to request a mail-in ballot, if you are not going to the polls next Tuesday. For the first time, more than half of San Diegans who are registered to vote have signed up to permanently vote by mail.

The number of people who chose to vote by mail has crept up gradually in recent years. Now it’s more than 50 percent of all San Diego voters.

Election 2012 Voter Guide

What’s even more telling is that since 2008, mailed-in ballots have made up more than 60 percent of all votes cast in the June elections.

But this year, San Diego Registrar of Voters Deborah Seiler said those mail-in ballots seem to be coming in slowly, perhaps because people are waiting till the last minute to vote. She advised mail-in voters not to wait too long.

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“The mail ballots do have to be received by the time the polls close on election day,” she said, “so we advise voters to mail no later than probably the Friday before the election.”

That’s this Friday, June 1.

Seiler said her office has not had too many questions about the new "top two" one primary, which means voters have more candidates to chose from.

But she said some voters may be adjusting to new political realities, because redistricting means they find themselves in a new district.

Seiler said those who get their votes in early will be counted among the first results released at 8 p.m. on election night. Typically, that first tally will make up between 25 and 30 percent of all voted cast, she said, though the final tally may not be complete for several weeks.

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.