Those who live in the Bodega Bay Fire Protection District or the West Sonoma County Union High School District (WSCUHSD) have until Feb. 16 at midnight to register to vote in the March 2 special election to sink or support two measures on the ballot, according to a Feb. 11 press release from the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters.
U.S. citizens who will be at least 18 years old on March 2 who aren’t in prison with a felony conviction qualify to register to vote and can do so at https://registertovote.ca.gov/, the press release said.
And if they don’t make the cutoff point, the press release said they can get in touch with the Registrar of Voters office to learn more about registering “conditionally” and voting in person.
The notice also informed that residents should re-register if they changed their name or relocated to another address not long ago. Residents can also fill out postage-paid registration forms from the Registrar of Voters office and places like post offices and city halls and drop them off at the 24/7 drive-thru drop box at the Registrar of Voters office.
Residents who choose to mail in those forms need to get their forms postmarked by Feb. 16 at the latest and 707-565-6800 is the number to call to learn more about voter registration, according to the press release.
The county’s Registrar of Voters webpage said residents can check whether they’re registered at the statewide My Voter Status Lookup database “updated in near real-time” at this link: https://voterstatus.sos.ca.gov
For those who do not know what districts they reside in, the Registrar of Voters Office’s “Voter Information Lookup” page directs people to the online “District & Elected Official Lookup” tool, though the tool is accompanied by a note that said, “Sonoma County will continue to provide information on our website as well, however, it is not updated in near real time and requires manual intervention to post the data.”
Measure A proposes a WSCUHSD parcel tax of $48 annually for three years to raise an anticipated $1.15 million a year to “protect music, art, dance, shop, culinary and other career technical programs,” “retain certificated and classified staff” and “maintain small class sizes,” according to its full text.
Measure B proposes adding another 4% transient occupancy tax for guests of west county hotels and short-term rentals to pay, expected to generate about $2.7 million a year “to address tourism impacts” and “to support sustainable paramedic emergency medical and rescue services provided by local fire agencies, and to support West County schools and education,” its full text said.
The full texts of both Measure A for a proposed WSCUHSD parcel tax and Measure B for a proposed west county transient occupancy tax area and added 4% lodging tax can be found at this link: https://sonomacounty.ca.gov/CRA/Registrar-of-Voters/Elections/03-02-2021/Measures-on-Ballot/
