With election day right around the corner, Cuesta College students have the options of mailing in their ballots, dropping off their ballots in designated locations or voting in person in SLO County polling places..

If voting by mail-in ballot, be sure to sign the ballot and then either mail it, put it in an official drop box or deliver it to the Elections Office. To be counted, the ballot must be postmarked on or before Nov. 5 or dropped off in an official drop box or at a polling place by 8 p.m. on Nov. 5, which is Election Day. Voters can track their ballot’s progress through BallotTrax.

For those who still need to register to vote, you can still cast a ballot in person by voting provisionally. This involves completing the voter registration form on-site at a polling place. After the vote is submitted, it will be counted once the Elections Office has confirmed your eligibility to vote. In order to vote provisionally, please bring a California driver’s license or California ID, or the last four digits of your social security number, as well as a residential and mailing address.

On Nov. 5, polls open promptly at 7 a.m. and close promptly at 8 p.m. Voters should go to their specified polling places to cast their ballots. Erin Clausen, public information specialist for the County of San Luis Obispo Clerk-Recorder, explained that voters must cast their ballot no later than 8:00 p.m. on Election Day. “Closing is also prompt by law, and ballot boxes are sealed immediately,” Clausen said via email. “Running up with a vote-by-mail ballot at 8:01 and pleading your case won’t get that ballot into the box so be sure to plan ahead.”

According to Clausen, voting in-person is not necessarily time-consuming. “It depends on whether you vote on all the contests on your ballot and how much you’ve looked into the propositions in advance,” Clausen said. “You can spend as much time in a voting booth as you need, but most people are in and out of the polling location within 15 minutes.”

Clausen encourages students to get involved and participate in the upcoming election. “Voting is so important,” Clausen said. “It’s your right, and your vote counts just as much as anyone else’s. You might feel like your vote doesn’t have much of an impact, but local contests, especially, can be decided by just a handful of votes. And voting from an early age demystifies the process and sets you up to be an active voter for life.”

For more information, visit SLO County’s official election website, call the Elections Office at (805) 781-5228 or email [email protected].