More than 22 percent of all registered San Joaquin County voters — 81,900 people – have already cast ballots with the election just seven days a way.

The county is on track to break the record for early voting. In the March some 34 percent of the voters cast their ballots before Election Day.

To put the impact of every one of the county’s 365,081 registered voters getting a ballot mailed to them during the pandemic in perspective, that’s over half of all the 150,482 votes cast in the March 3 primary election. There are also 38,863 more registered voters today than there were eight months ago.

Nearly 58,000 or three-quarters of the ballots returned as of Oct. 25 have been mailed. Another 22,700 were left in drop boxes. The remaining 1,200 were dropped off at the Registrar of Voters office in Stockton.

 Those that want to physically vote at a polling place next Tuesday will have four options in Manteca. They are at the Manteca Transit Center, Walter Woodward Elementary School, Neil Hafley Elementary School, and Stella Brockman Elementary School.

Lathrop residents will be able to vote in person at Lathrop High School. Ripon residents will be able to visit Ripon High School to cast their ballots

You can also drop off completed ballots in Manteca at Cabral Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram, 1145 W. Yosemite Ave.; Manteca Civic Center, 1001 W. Center St.; Manteca Trailer and Motorhome, 204 S. Vasconcellos Ave.; and Central Valley Nutrition, 259 W. Louise Ave.

In Ripon, you can drop ballots off at the Ripon City Hall, 259 N. Wilma Ave.

There are two drop off box location in Lathrop. They are at the Lathrop City Council chamber, 390 Towne Centre and La Reina Supermarket at 1357 E’ Louise Ave.

You can also mail in ballots that must be postmarked by Nov. 3.

“We know the pandemic was a big factor in voters choosing to vote-by-mail rather than going to a polling place to vote in-person,” said San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters Melinda Dubroff. “California also made it easier for voters to return their ballots through the mail or to a drop box by automatically sending all registered voters a vote-by-mail ballot instead of by voter request. But even so, the record numbers we’re seeing clearly tell the story about how excited and motivated people are about exercising their right to vote.

Broken down by age groups, 44 percent of voters who are 75 and older have already cast their ballots, compared to less than 12 percent of voters age 25-34 and age 18-24. At this point in the March Primary Election only 3.8% of voters under the age of 25 had cast a ballot.

If returning a ballot by mail, it must be postmarked on or before Election Day Tuesday, Nov. 3 and received by the County elections office by Nov. 20.

If returning a ballot in-person or dropping it in a drop box it must be delivered no later than the close of polls at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Anyone may return a ballot for a registered voter, as long as they do not get paid on a per ballot basis. In order for a person’s ballot to be counted, the voter must fill out the authorization section found on the outside of the ballot envelope.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com