As of 3 p.m. Tuesday, Santa Clara County received 26.33 percent of the mail-in ballots it sent out for the Presidential Primary Elections, according to Registrar spokeswoman Elma Rosas.
The County sent out a total of 546,444 ballots, and received 143,887 back, she said. The total ballots collected through mail-in and at the precincts, along with results, will not be available until after 8 p.m. tonight.
The final preliminary results will then be available early Wednesday morning, likely not until 3 or 4 a.m., said Rosas. The county then has up to 28 days to certify the results, though Rosas could not say at this point how long the total tally will take.
She believes the number of people voting by mail this year is up, but could not comment yet on the total voter turn-out.
“It is really difficult to compare whether more people are voting by this year than in previous years,” said Rosas.
These primary elections are the first since 2004 where the results have not been biforcated, or split between presidential and local elections. In 2008, the presidential primaries occurred in February and county elections took place in June.
Still, Rosas says the county is receiving more mail-in ballots this election than in has in previous ones. In June 2006, for example, the County received a total of 122,663 mail-in ballots and 155,656 ballots are the polling place.
She attributes the increase to the ease of voting by mail, and the increased number of voter drop-off stations.
Patch will continue updating this story as more votes come in.
