Vote-by-mail ballots for the November election are arriving in California mailboxes. Election officials have one main request for voters: don't wait.
Nearly every registered voter in California gets a ballot in the mail. In Sacramento County, more than nine in ten people vote that way.
Officials are urging people to vote early to cut down on the election delays California is known for. Kim Alexander leads the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation.
"I hate to say this, but you're part of the problem if you are turning in your ballot in an envelope on election day," says Alexander. "You are creating part of that backlog that is taking us so long to get to the speed of vote count that we want."
Alexander adds ballots mailed on Election Day can take a week or more to count. She urges voters to return them by Halloween.
Instead of mailing their ballots, people can drop it in a county drop box, or take it to a vote center. Some counties even let you turn it in without the envelope and watch it scanned.
Voters concerned about the security of their ballot have nothing to worry about, says Placer County registrar Ryan Ronco.
"I have been in Placer County's elections office for 32 years," Ronco says, "and it is definitely a safe and secure way to vote."
Ronco says the ballot process has multiple layers of checks, from signature verification to chain of custody rules.
Voters can check the status of their ballot at https://ballottrax.net/voter/