Our ballot instructions for the 2021 recall election
How do I vote in the recall election?
The short version
If you’re already registered to vote, you should have already received a ballot in your mail. If you haven’t yet, check your voter registration by Monday, August 30.
Mark your selection(s) on your ballot with a black ballpoint pen, then fold it back up, tear off the stub, and put it in the return envelope.
SIGN THE RETURN ENVELOPE. Also fill out the blanks in the lower-left corner.
Return your ballot as early as possible! Don’t wait if you can help it.
Track your ballot using the voter portal (if you live in SF) or the state’s “Where’s My Ballot?” system!
Table of contents
Your ballot
If you’re already registered to vote in San Francisco, your ballot should have arrived in your mail in an envelope like this:
A photo of a blue-and-white mail ballot envelope for voters in the city and county of San Francisco.
(If that envelope hasn’t arrived yet, check your voter registration! You have until Monday, August 30 to register to vote and get a ballot mailed to you.)
That envelope—which may look different if you live in a different county—contains three things:
Your ballot
Another, slightly smaller envelope, called the return envelope (note that the outer envelope is blue, where the return envelope—shown below—is purple)
An instruction sheet with your “I Voted!” sticker on it
Get started right away—don’t wait! This ballot is hella short—just one card!—and if you put it off, you risk forgetting, misplacing your ballot, or otherwise missing the Tuesday, September 14 deadline. Turnout is crucial—we need every vote!
Filling out your ballot
A photo of the official ballot for the 2021 Gubernatorial Recall election, fresh out of the envelope.
You’ll need a ballpoint pen with black ink. (The ballot’s own instructions say “a pencil or pen with dark ink”. We don’t recommend using a pencil.)
You can read our other blog post about the recall election for more details on how we recommend you vote. The short version is:
Vote no to stop the recall.
You can abstain from the replacement-candidate question by leaving that side blank. You can vote for a candidate if you want, but you don’t have to and we have no endorsement.
(In some counties, both questions are on a single side, but in San Francisco, the recall question is on one side of the ballot and the replacement-candidate question is on the other side.)
The recall question, with the “No” bubble filled in. The replacement candidates are on the other side (you would flip your ballot over).
Once you have completed your ballot, tear off the voter stub from the top of the ballot. Fold it back and forth along the perforation to ensure it comes off cleanly. The stub is, essentially, your receipt; you can throw it out once the Voter Portal (or the state’s “Where’s My Ballot?” service) confirms that your ballot has been counted.
Then, fold up your ballot card the way it came and put the ballot in the return envelope. (Remember, the return envelope is the purple one, not the blue one. It says “Ballot Return Envelope” on the front.)
A photo of the official ballot for the 2021 Gubernatorial Recall election with the voter stub removed.
Your ballot should look like the image above after you’ve removed your stub and folded it back up. Your ballot will still count whichever way you fold it, but this way makes it easier for the elections staff.
The return envelope
A photo of the front of the official return envelope for your ballot.
A photo of the back of the official return envelope for your ballot.
After you place the ballot in the return envelope, fill out the form in the lower-left corner of the back side:
Sign the return envelope. We’ll say it again: Sign the return envelope! Not doing this is one of the most common mistakes voters make.
Fill out your name, the date, and your address (the one where you’re registered to vote). If you’re voting in San Francisco, you don’t need to fill out a city (you’ll notice there’s no blank for the city in the photo above), but if you’re in a different county, your return envelope may have more fields.
Write a phone number, email address, or both where you can be contacted if the Department of Elections needs to contact you about your ballot. This is optional, but it’s the best way you have a chance to fix a mistake (such as if you forgot to sign the return envelope) and ensure your vote counts.
If you’ve asked someone to return your ballot for you, and they’ve accepted that responsibility, that person should fill out the form in the upper-right of the envelope, giving their name, relationship to you, and signature.
One thing you don’t need to do: You don’t need to add a stamp. Ballot return envelopes in California are postage paid—you can mail your return envelope from anywhere in the United States for free.
⚠️ WAIT! BEFORE YOU SEAL THE RETURN ENVELOPE:
Did you mark your ballot (i.e., vote NO on the recall)?
Did you put the ballot in the return envelope?
Did you sign and date the return envelope, and write your name and address (where you are registered to vote) on it?
Do you have a plan for when and how you will cast this ballot?
If you’re authorizing someone else to return your ballot for you, is the authorization form in the upper-right corner filled out?
If all of these checks pass, go ahead and seal up the return envelope. It’s now ready to be returned!
Returning the return envelope
You have several options for how you (or the person you authorized) can return your ballot to the Department of Elections:
Mail it from any USPS Post Office or collection box, preferably by Tuesday, September 7, and no later than Monday, September 13 (but really the sooner the better).
Drop it off at any drop box in your county. In SF, that means the drop boxes at Polk and Grove near City Hall: one is on the City Hall side, while the other is on the Civic Center Plaza side and is placed for drivers coming via Grove or up Polk to pull over and vote.
Drop it off at any voting center in your county.
Drop it off at any polling place in your county.
You can probably guess that our September 7 mailing guidance is to account for mail delays (thanks, Postmaster General DeJoy), but why do we say to mail ballots no later than Monday, September 13, rather than Tuesday, September 14?
The answer is postmarks.
The deadline for mailed ballots under state law is that they must be postmarked by “Election Day” (which this time is September 14), and they must arrive no later than three days after “Election Day”.
But postmarks can be tricky. An item is postmarked on the day the USPS collects it from the drop slot or collection box you put it into. This isn’t necessarily the same day you put it in! Every USPS drop slot and collection box has a schedule of collection times published on it. On a collection box, it’s immediately in front of the door you have to pull open to put items inside.
A photo of a USPS mailbox showing its collection times. Image credit: Frank Farm, used under CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0 license. Source.
If you were to put your ballot in this collection box at, say, 3 PM on Tuesday, September 14, it would be collected no earlier than the next day, Wednesday, September 15. That’s too late!
Mailing your ballot after last collection time on Election Day will result in it being postmarked late and not getting counted.
The last collection time is different for every PO and collection box, so there’s no singular right answer. So, if you have to mail it on “Election Day” (e.g., because of your work schedule), use the USPS’s locator to find a collection box or Post Office that hasn’t had its last collection yet, and that you can get to in time.
The best option for “Election Day” voting is to go to a polling place, a voting center, or City Hall and drop off your ballot yourself.
Help! I need a new ballot!
Spoiled your ballot? Lost the packet? Lost or spoiled the return envelope?
Here, too, you have several options.
You can contact the Department of Elections and ask them to mail you a new ballot.
You can go to the Department of Elections at City Hall and ask for a new ballot.
You can authorize a family member or housemate to pick up a replacement ballot to bring to you. The authorized person must be at least 16 years old.
In the last week of the election (Tuesday, September 7–Tuesday, September 14), if you’re unable to go to a voting center or polling place for medical reasons (including quarantine), you can authorize anyone to pick up a ballot to bring to you.
On the last day of the election (Tuesday, September 14), you can go to any polling place in your county (the City, in our case) and ask for a new ballot.
Tracking your ballot
If you’re registered in SF, you have two options for tracking your ballot:
SF’s Department of Elections has a section in the Voter Portal that will tell you the progress of your ballot so far.
The state has a “Where’s My Ballot?” system that can give you notifications as your ballot’s status progresses.
Note that it can take a few days for your ballot to show up in the Voter Portal’s tracking system after you drop it off. Don’t panic if your ballot doesn’t immediately show as received.