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AP17:082

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 19, 2017
Contact:
SOS Press Office
(916) 653-6575

Fires Prompt Governor Brown to Sign Executive Order Declaring All Mail Ballot Election for Sonoma County’s November 7 Consolidated Election 

SACRAMENTO – In response to the Northern California fires and at the request of the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters, Governor Jerry Brown signed today an Executive Order declaring that the Sonoma County November 7, 2017 Consolidated Election will be conducted wholly by mail. On the ballot is a local contest for Timber Cove County Water District and local measures F, G and H.  

“Thousands of lives have been terribly disrupted by the Northern California fires,” said Secretary of State Alex Padilla. “The fires have impacted schools, places of worship and even our local elections. The unpredictability of the fires is causing difficulty for the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters to identify polling locations or recruit poll workers making it necessary to move to an all mail ballot election. My office is committed to working with the Governor and Sonoma County elections officials to ensure the integrity of the November 7 Consolidated Election.”  

The widely impacted area presents a challenge for securing polling locations in the event the fires change course. Potential poll workers and Sonoma County Registrar of Voters’ staff are among those displaced. The Executive Order is a preemptive measure that allows the Registrar of Voters’ staff to act quickly and distribute vote-by-mail ballots to those affected.   

“The Governor’s Executive Order issued during our recovery from the devastating fires will help to ensure the continuity of our operations, the protection of voter rights and maintain the integrity of the November 7th election in Sonoma County,” said William F. Rousseau, Sonoma County Registrar of Voters.  

The Executive Order reads:  

At the request of the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters, the County of Sonoma may conduct its November 7, 2017, Consolidated Election wholly by mail, utilizing the procedures set forth in Elections Code section 4100 et seq. The conditions required to conduct an election wholly by mail in Elections Code sections 1500, 4000, 4104, and 4108 are hereby waived. As the November 7, 2017, Consolidated Election, in Sonoma County, will be held wholly by mail, the operation of Division 14 of Elections Code pertaining to polling place procedures shall also be waived. 

For more information, voters are encouraged to visit http://vote.sonoma-county.org/ or call 707-565-6800. 

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