by Steven Felschundneff | steven@claremont-courier.com

As the election reaches its final 11 days, every registered voter in California should have received a vote-by-mail ballot. If nationwide early voting trends are any indicator, many COURIER readers have already submitted their ballots. For those who still need to do so, here is a review of where and how to vote this year.

Obviously, the mail-in ballot can be returned through the United States Postal Service, postage paid. Ballots postmarked by Election Day and received by November 20 will be counted by the Los Angeles County Registrar Recorder County Clerk. The deadline for the clerk to receive ballots has been extended 14 days to allow for the volume of ballots anticipated to travel through the postal system.

Voters can also deposit their mail-in ballot at one of two secure permanent drop off locations in Claremont—at the entrance of the Hughes Center and at the Harvard Avenue entrance of the Claremont Helen Renwick Library. Ballots can be dropped off day or night. These drop boxes will remain in place for the next five years and will be utilized for all elections during that period.

Voters can also deliver their mail-in ballots to any voter center throughout Los Angeles County, up to and including Election Day. Ballots cast by Claremont residents in other cities will be sorted and batched with the rest of Claremont’s ballots by the county clerk.

Although every registered voter will receive a vote-by-mail ballot, they can still choose to vote in-person at any voter center throughout the county, not just at the ones here in Claremont. All vote centers will be open for five days leading up to and including Election Day, while several centers will be open for 11 days.

Claremont will have four vote centers—one that will be open for 11 days and three that will be open for five days. Our 11-day center, which opens tomorrow, will be at Taylor Hall at 1775 N. Indian Hill Boulevard. The five-day centers will be located at: Claremont Helen Renwick Library, meeting room, 208 N. Harvard Ave.; El Roble Intermediate School, multipurpose room, 665 N. Mountain Ave.; and Claremont Center for Spiritual Living, Holmes Social Hall, 509 S. College Ave.

Eleven-day voter centers will be open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., October 24 through November 2, and 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day. Five-day voter centers will be open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., October 30 through November 2, and 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day.

In addition to voting in the presidential race, as well as other national, state and local contests, Claremont voters will be electing two members of the CUSD Board of Education and one representative to the Citrus Community College Board of Trustees. Claremonters who live in Districts 1 and 5 will also vote for a city council candidate. Voters in Districts 2, 3, and 4 will vote for a city council in 2022.