Your vote-by-mail request expired. It's time to request another

A state law that took effect in 2021 means that voters who want to cast a ballot by mail must make that request after each general election cycle

July 13, 2024

By Beth Kassab

If you haven’t requested your vote-by-mail ballot, the deadline to do so is looming.

Requests to cast a mail ballot must be made by Aug. 8 at 5 p.m. for the Aug. 20 primary election. The deadline to switch parties or newly register to vote in the primary is July 22.  (For information about what will be on your ballot check the supervisor’s site here and the Voice’s race preview here.)

The Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office reports that it has received nearly 8,000 new vote-by-mail requests since late June for a total of 82,838 requests.

But that total is still less than half of what it was in 2022, according to the supervisor’s office.

Officials think this is because voters are still learning they must re-submit mail requests as a result of a 2021 state law that says those requests expire after each federal general election. That means previous vote-by-mail requests expired on Dec. 31, 2022.

“Thanks to the great work of our staff, we have already started processing vote-by-mail ballots for the primary and will be sending them out very soon,” said Orange County Supervisor of Elections Glen Gilzean in a news release. “While there is still plenty of time to request a vote-by-mail ballot, the deadline is now less than a month away.”

Gilzean is also reminding voters to update their signatures if they believe it could have changed due to age, injury or illness. Voters can find instructions on how to update their signature on the “Vote-By-Mail” section of the Orange County Supervisor of Elections website under “Signature Updates.” 

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