Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder-Elections

April 23, 2008

Contact:
Warren Slocum, Chief Elections Officer
Phone: (650) 363-4988 E-mail: wslocum@smcare.org

Alternate:
David Tom, Elections Manager
Phone: (650) 312-5222 E-mail: dtom@smcare.org

Track and Confirm Your Vote on www.shapethefuture.org

Verify receipt of your ballot for the May 6 Portola Valley Elementary School District Election

Redwood City, CA - With voting underway for the May 6 Portola Valley Elementary School District Election, San Mateo County Chief Elections Officer Warren Slocum is reminding voters in this all mail election that the peace of mind that their vote has been received by the elections office is just a click away.

Available online at www.shapethefuture.org, Track & Confirm allows voters to see when their ballot was initially mailed to them and when their voted ballot was received by the Elections Office. Voters can access the information by inputting three simple pieces of data - the number of their residential address, their zip code and their date of birth.

Track & Confirm works just like the barcode scanning systems used by UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service. Each voter’s return envelope for his or her Vote by Mail ballot has a unique barcode associated with his or her voter registration file. The barcodes are scanned when ballots are sent from and received by the Elections Office, and the data is uploaded to Track & Confirm. Updates are posted daily and available after 9 p.m.

Once an envelope’s barcode has been scanned and the voter’s signature on the flap verified, the envelope and ballot are separated. At this point, the ballot can no longer be tracked back to the voter, maintaining secrecy as required by law.

In 2007, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill requiring elections offices in California to provide this service by March of 2008. “Now all California voters, regardless of where they live, can go onto their local elections website and use a ‘Track & Confirm’ program to confirm receipt of their voted mail ballot. It adds a layer of transparency to ensure accurate, fair elections. As we speak, a bill is working its way through Congress because it’s a good idea for the whole country,” Slocum said.

Vote by Mail ballots must be received by the Elections Office at 8 p.m. on Election Day (May 6). Postmarks are not accepted. If you are running short on time, you may drop off your Vote by Mail ballot at the Elections Office at 40 Tower Road in San Mateo or the Portola Valley Town Hall. There will be no polling places open for voting on Election Day in this vote by mail election.

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