Ballot AWOL? Look into it!

If you’ve registered to vote but haven’t received your information pamphlet or mail-in ballot, check with the registrar. Local voters in the same position learned they got inactivated when confirmation postcards from the Butte County Elections Office got returned to sender.

“Inactivated” isn’t irreversible. Clerk-Recorder/Registrar Candace Grubbs says inactive voters remain on the rolls. Those who haven’t moved can get reactivated right at the polls; those with new residences can cast provisional ballots that will get certified with address verification.

To check your status, call 538-7761, check http://clerk-recorder.buttecounty.net or go to County Center. Grubbs and her staff are processing the thousand-plus forms submitted by the Oct. 20 deadline, so if you registered recently, your filing may not show up until Wednesday (Oct. 29).

Why do the postcards go out to new registrants and voters who miss two straight federal elections? “That is the only way we have to verify their address,” Grubbs said, “and it keeps the rolls clean, especially in a college town where people move away a lot.”