'It's Happening To A Lot Of Us': Riverside County Voters Concerned About Missing Mail-In Ballots
RIVERSIDE (CBSLA) — With three weeks to go until the election, some Riverside County residents are concerned that they have yet to receive their mail-in ballots.
Jess Nerren is one of those voters. She said her alarm bells went off when she noticed her friends were already voting.
"And I saw my friends dropping off their ballots and putting on their voting stickers, and I still didn't have anything," she said.
When Nerren went on her neighborhood Facebook page, she realized she was not alone.
"And everyone's saying the same thing," she said. "I felt like I was alone. I felt like this was just weird for me, and it turns out it's happening to a lot of us."
Nerren tried to track her ballot using both a state and county online tool, but to no avail. One tracker said her ballot was mailed Sept. 10, the other said Sept. 28.
"And, to me, this isn't a who you're gonna vote for issue, this is an everyone deserves to have access to be able to vote issue," she said. "And right now, I don't have access to be able to vote, because I don't have a ballot."
Erika Diaz, who lives not far from Nerren, received her ballot on Friday, but the other two people in her home — her brother and her elderly mother — have not.
"She doesn't drive anymore," Diaz said. "She can't get herself to a voting place, and I'm sure there's plenty of other people like herself that it's difficult to get out."
Nerren called the registrar last week and was told her ballot went out Oct. 5. She called again Tuesday morning, but couldn't get through.
"My concern is as it gets later and later, and closer and closer to election, resolving this is just going to become more and more difficult," Nerren said.
Nerren and her neighbors said they were also concerned that they had not yet received the county voter guide.
But, on Tuesday, those who had received their ballots were dropping them off at the registrar's office.
"I'm hoping they get their ballots soon," one voter said. "And they can vote just like the rest of us."
And one woman said she knew people in Lake Elsinore who hadn't yet received their ballots either.
"I'm hoping the post office hurries up, because everybody should be voting and not waiting until the last day," she said.
A spokesperson for the Riverside County Registrar's Office said that ballots were not sent out until Oct. 5 and that voters who do not receive theirs by Thursday should contact the office for a new ballot.
