Record absentee vote expected March 2 Record absentee vote expected March 2 (February 25, 2004)

By Andrea Gemmet

Almanac Staff Writer

A county official says it's too early to project what voter turnout will be at the March 2 presidential primary election, but there could be a record number of absentee voters casting ballots locally.

At slightly more than 83,000 mailed out as of February 19, the county is approaching a record for absentee ballots, said Warren Slocum, San Mateo County's registrar. That's about 25 percent of the total voter registration of 330,000 for next week's election.

About 71,000 of those ballots are going to people who have opted for permanent vote-by-mail status and automatically receive absentee ballots for every election, Mr. Slocum said. That makes it hard to forecast voter turnout by the number of absentee ballot requests, he said.

The deadline for applying for absentee ballots by mail, fax or online is 5 p.m. Tuesday, February 24. Absentee ballots may be obtained in person Wednesday, February 25 through election day, March 2, at the elections office, 40 Tower Road, San Mateo or 555 County Center in downtown Redwood City. Mr. Slocum is holding special Saturday hours, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the San Mateo location, he said.

Absentee ballots may be turned in at any polling place, and must be received by the county elections office by the end of polling on election day.

Polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on election day, Tuesday, March 2. Polling places are listed on the sample ballot and voter information pamphlet that each voter receives from the county.

INFORMATION

For information on the election, call 312-5222 or check the San Mateo County Elections Office Web site, www.shapethefuture.org. An additional source of information on candidates and issues is the League of Women Voters' election site, www.smartvoter.org.

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