SIERRA COUNTY — This week, Sierra County began the processing of mail-in paper ballots. The process is open to the public and started at 2 PM on October 30th. It will be continued at 1:30 PM on November 4th and November 5th (election day) in the Downieville Board of Supervisors Chamber. Ballots must be received by 8 PM on election day (except for those mailed and postmarked) and can be returned in person at the Sierra County Clerk-Recorder’s Office in Downieville or at a drop box available only on November 5th from 7 AM to 8 PM at Loyalton City Hall Auditorium (605 School Street, Loyalton). Sierra County is holding an all-mail ballot election and will not have any polling places for in-person voting.

According to the Clerk-Recorder’s Office, responsible for the county’s elections, Sierra County’s voter turnout was 52% by Wednesday, October 30th. Though ballot processing has begun, no results will be released until after 8 PM on election day, when it is expected that the counts of all ballots received before the deadline will be made available to the public. After the deadline, votes received by mail up to seven days following can be counted as long as they were postmarked by election day. Additionally, ballots requiring signature verification have until December 1st, two days before election certification, to be reconciled.

Besides voting for president, Sierra County residents will vote on several local candidates, their District 3 representative for US Congress, a US Senate seat, and ten state ballot measures. The senate seat will be on the ballot twice, once for an expiring term left vacant by Diane Feinstein and another for the full term starting in 2025.

Locally, the City of Loyalton has a contested race for a 4-year city council member term, for which three candidates compete for two positions. The Eastern Plumas Healthcare District also has a contested race for director, for which three candidates also compete for two positions. Other races are either uncontested or have enough open positions for all running candidates to be elected.

District 3 will again select its representative for Congress in a race between Republican incumbent Kevin Kiley and Democrat challenger Jessica Morse. Kiley received over 30,000 more votes than Morse in the California Primary Election earlier this year.

For the US Senate, Democrat Adam Schiff will be running against Republican Steve Garvey. Schiff had less than 3,500 more votes than Garvey in the Primary, though Democrat support was split between several candidates. The issues of focus for Schiff’s campaign are available at www.adamschiff.com/plans, while Garvey’s are available at stevegarvey.com/steves-vision.

The ten ballot measures touch on several issues important to California residents, including raising the minimum wage, allowing rent control, and harshening sentencing guidelines for some drug and theft crimes. A complete list of the measures, linking to descriptions and arguments for and against, is available here.