InTouch - Our Election By the Numbers
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You’ve heard me say it before, but I’ll say it again – I’m a numbers person. And an election, in the end, is all about the numbers.
We’ll all be anxiously watching the final tallies come in after Americans are done casting their votes next month. There are contests we’re each interested in personally, and some that could mean changes in how we operate at the County.
But for the moment, I want to focus on a few numbers that show what a big and complex job it is to make those results appear. It’s not magic. The entire Registrar of Voters team works tirelessly for many months leading up to each election, and for weeks after, to make sure this machinery at the core of democracy runs smoothly. Here are a few figures from this current cycle to give you a feel for what they pull off.
That's the number of registered voters in the County as of Oct. 1. Registrar Michael Vu expects we'll get to 1.6 million by the close of registration (that's Oct. 24, by the way).
That’s 62 percent of all voters. We’re really promoting mail voting as the way to go. Getting ballots mailed to us before Election Day greatly speeds up the counting process.
Every school district, water district, assembly district, city council district and so on has its own boundaries, cutting this way and that across each other. So for our county, you wind up with 623 unique areas, and each needs its own unique ballot. Then multiply that by the 5 languages we provide materials in. That's a lot of different ballots. Each needs to get mailed to the appropriate home or delivered to the correct polling place.
You’ve probably heard about the phenomenal number of contests we’re voting on. 17 statewide initiatives. 35 local measures. Then all the offices, which have 468 candidates across them. None of us will vote in every single one and the exact number will depend on where you live. But the Registrar had to prepare for all of them, and every voter will have a lot. Which leads us to our next number….
All those contests mean that for the first time ever, San Diegans will get two ballot cards. They simply won’t fit on one.
We’re trying to get the word out to people – vote by mail if you can, so you can have time to go through it at home. And if you do head to the polls, be prepared. Don’t try to figure it out on the spot.
Registrar staff has to make individual arrangements for each garage, school, community center, church, etc. that voters walk into.
Plus another 600+ as standbys. Each person has to get trained, so the Registrar will hold 238 classes – possibly more – and they all take place in a matter of 20 days. That’s an average of a dozen a day.
Now, about those poll workers…
Help our Registrar out. Michael Vu needs you!1,552. That’s how many of you we’re hoping to enlist as poll workers this election. That’s a good amount more employees than we’ve ever had before, so it’s a pretty audacious goal. Many of you have volunteered in past elections, so we know the things that make you great employees – your reliability, your commitment to the HEART qualities of customer service – make you great poll workers. We really need as many of you as possible in the field for what could be a challenging Election Day. Work things out with your supervisor and email Jean.Vukotich@sdcounty.ca.gov to sign up.
I hope this gives you some idea of the effort that goes into an election and the amazing work the Registrar is doing. Getting many of you in as poll workers will help ensure their success – and ours as a County team.
And a final number:
That’s your vote.
Pause for a moment and remember how precious it is. People have fought and died so you could have it. Many people in the world can only dream of having one.
Yours makes a difference.
Make it count.
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