Nearly 45,000 November General Election vote-by-mail ballots will be mailed Tuesday to voters in Santa Cruz County as voters in the State begin casting their votes.

More than 34,700 of the 140,177 registered voters in the County are signed up as permanent vote-by-mail voters. These voters will automatically be mailed a ballot for any election in which they are eligible to vote.

Any voter who wants to become a permanent vote-by-mail voter simply needs to check the box requesting permanent absentee voter status on any of the vote-by-mail applications available. Applications are printed on the back cover of the Sample Ballot and VoterÕs Information Pamphlet that are being mailed to voters in Santa Cruz County. Voters may also apply for a ballot online at www.votescount.com, or at any of the City ClerkÕs Offices in Capitola, Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley or Watsonville. Voters may also submit a written request by FAX to 831-454-2445 or by mail to 701 Ocean St., Room 210, Santa Cruz, CA 95060 for a ballot to be mailed to them as long as they provide their name, address where they live in Santa Cruz County, mailing address and signature.

Election officials encourage any person who is not registered to vote, to do so by Tuesday, October 10 in order to ensure that election materials will be mailed to them. Otherwise, the last day to register to vote in the November General Election is October 23.

Voters may also apply for and obtain a ballot in person beginning Tuesday, October 10, at the Santa Cruz County Clerk/Elections Department located at 701 Ocean St., Room 210, Santa Cruz, CA 95060. In addition, the Watsonville City Clerk's Office, located at 215 Union Street, 2nd Floor, in Watsonville, will issue ballots to voters or accept voted ballots from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, beginning Monday, October 9. The South County voting operation will move to the City Council Chambers, located at 250 Main Street, for weekend voting on November 4 and 5 as well as Election Day voting on November 7.

Many voters use the vote-by-mail applications supplied by various political campaigns. Santa Cruz County election officials, however, stress that voters have the legal right to mail or deliver the applications directly to the local elections official rather than the political campaign. Returning vote-by-mail applications to anyone other than the elections official may cause a delay that could interfere with the voterÕs right to vote, officials warned.

Vote-by-Mail ballots sent to voters may be returned by the voter by mail or dropped off at any polling place in Santa Cruz County on Election Day. Voters may also drop off ballots during regular business hours at the county Elections Department in Santa Cruz, or the City Clerks' offices in Capitola, Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley or Watsonville during regular business hours, or on Election Day at any polling place in Santa Cruz County. An elections official must receive the vote-by-mail ballot no later than 8 p.m. on November 7, 2006, postmark is not acceptable. There is a white mailbox in front of the County Government Center where voters may drive up and deposit their vote-by-mail ballot, as well.

A vote-by-mail voter, however, who, because of illness or other physical disability, is unable to return the ballot, may designate his or her spouse, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, brother, sister or person residing in the same household to return the ballot to the County Clerk/Elections Department, City Clerk's office, or to any polling place on Election Day. The authorization for another person to return the vote-by-mail ballot is located on the back of the ballot return envelope.

It is extremely important for voters to sign their vote-by-mail ballot return envelope, in addition to completing all of the other information requested, including the address where the voter lives in Santa Cruz County.

Unfortunately, if there is no signature on the vote-by-mail ballot return envelope or if the signature on the envelope does not match the voterÕs signature on his or her voterÕs registration card, election officials must challenge the ballot.