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AP19:050

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 26, 2019
CONTACT:
SOS Press Office
(916) 653-6575

Over Half of State’s Voters to be Covered by Voter’s Choice Act for 2020 Elections as Tuolumne County Becomes 14th County to Adopt Reform

TUOLUMNE COUNTY, CA – Tuolumne County has adopted the Voter’s Choice Act for the 2020 elections. Under this modern election model, every registered voter will automatically receive their ballot by mail and have options for how to return their ballot: by mail, to any ballot drop box in the county, or at any vote center in the county convenient to them. Fourteen counties, representing over half of the state’s registered voters, will use the Voter’s Choice Act in 2020.

"Counties across California—from Gold Country to the Central Valley and down the Southern California coast—are modernizing elections with voters in mind,” Secretary of State Alex Padilla said. “The Voter’s Choice Act is reshaping how we administer elections, driven by community input that provides the flexibility working voters need. I am excited to partner with Tuolumne County to provide expanded early voting opportunities and an improved elections experience for all voters.”

The 14 counties implementing the Voter’s Choice Act for 2020 are: Amador, Butte, El Dorado, Fresno, Los Angeles, Madera, Mariposa, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Sacramento, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Tuolumne. These counties are home to 51.09 percent of the state’s voters.

The Voters Choice Act (SB 450), sponsored by California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, is a landmark election reform measure signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown in 2016. Five California counties—Madera, Napa, Nevada, Sacramento, and San Mateo—implemented this new model of conducting elections for the first time in 2018. All five counties exceeded the November 2018 statewide turnout rate of 64.5 percent. As noted in SB450, Los Angeles County will implement a slightly different model of the Voter’s Choice Act in 2020 before implementing the full model in 2022.

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