Only 46 percent of the registered voters in San Mateo County voted in the Nov. 4 election, and twice as many voted by mail as those who cast ballots at the polls.

The turnout is even more dismal when compared to the number of county residents who were eligible to vote. According to an Oct. 20, 2014, report from the California Secretary of State's Office, San Mateo County has 490,797 people eligible to vote. Seventy-two percent are registered. Only 33.5 percent of those eligible to vote in the county actually cast ballots in the Nov. 4 election.

Mark Church, the county's chief elections officer, officially certified the election results on Dec. 1 and released statistics about voter turnout.

Of the 164,453 ballots cast in the county, 66 percent were vote-by-mail ballots.

In Atherton, where four candidates were running for three council seats, 55 percent of the town's 4,910 registered voters cast ballots. A total of 1,986 (or 74 percent of voters) voted by mail and 685 cast ballots at the polls.

In Menlo Park, with six candidates for three council seats and a controversial ballot measure, turnout was even higher: 58 percent of registered voters. A total of 6,481 (or 63 percent) voted by mail and 3,817 cast ballots at the polls.