The Bakersfield College Student Government Association along with the Grace Van Dyke Bird Library hosted a live webinar on how to prepare voters for voting and tracking their ballot, on Oct. 28.
According to Emma McNellis, the BCSGA Vice President gave a step by step on how to prepare for voting. An eligible voter “should know what’s on their ballot, they should research more on the candidates, find the nearest polling place and it’s operating hours, if you didn’t pre-register take the materials needed to register at a polling place, voters should prepare for the possibility of a line, know your rights and get excited and feel empowered about voting.”
According to BCSGA Senator Daniela Martinez, she informed people on how they can watch or re-watch the debates. When it came to the presidential debates “the first one took place in Cleveland on Sept. 29, the Vice-presidential debate was in Salt Lake City on Oct. 7, the second presidential debate was supposed to be held in Miami on Oct. 15, but was canceled and the third debate was in Nashville on Oct. 22.”
People who would like to re-watch the debates “can check out these places to watch the debates for Free [like ABC and]most cable news networks lifted their paywall to let people watch the debates for free. Another is PBS Newshour and YouTube. Also, if people want to fact check the debates, they can visit FactCheck.org or PolitiFact,” Martinez said.
McNellis said voting by mail was might have been the most cautious way to vote, however, because the official voting day is less than a week away there is no guarantee your ballot will make it in on time. “All registered voters do not have to apply for a vote by mail ballot for this election, if you are returning a mail-in ballot, it must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by your county elections office no later than 17 days after Election day. If you are returning your ballot in person or dropping it off at an official drop box it should be no later than the closing time at 8 pm on Nov. 3,” McNellis said.
Laura Luiz a Librarian at BC mentioned how she signed up to receive notifications based on the progress of her voting status with a website called “Where’s My Ballot?” where people can check where their ballot is and if it was counted towards the election. That notification system is free to join.