San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters Presents the Voter Education Roadshow to Prepare IE Voters for the General Election

Alyssah Hall

The San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters gathered under their tent in the sweltering 100 degree heat, for the fifth stop on their Voter Education Roadshow. 

The San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters attended the Route 66 Centennial Celebration at Memorial Park in Upland on Oct. 3, 2026, with the goal of  making voters “election ready”.  The roadshow began on Sept. 9, 2026, and stopped at four other cities within the five San Bernardino County supervisorial districts including Yucaipa, San Bernardino, Victorville, and Ontario. 

The traveling voter education exhibit was open to the public and offered voters a chance to learn more about the upcoming General Election on Nov. 3, and the resources and tools available to them. Attendees were able to register to vote, explore online voter resources, sign up to track their ballot, update their voter information or preferred language, and practice using a ballot marking device to mark and print a ballot. 

“ I’ve been with San Bernardino County 11 years and had the honor of serving as the registrar for the past two and a half, and it’s just been so exciting to be in this position,” said San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters, Joani Finwall. “County employees are considered to be public servants and I feel that the opportunity to work in elections and to bring elections to this county gives a capital “P” to public service. It’s just such an honor to do so.”

San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters has a “Don’t Ghost the Vote” campaign this voting season in order to influence voters to make a plan and ensure that they return their ballot early. 

“If people plan on voting with their mail ballot, we know that about 90% of the county prefers to do so, get it to us early because if you get it to us early and track it…you’ll find out when it’s in the mail, when it’s been returned to us, and when it’s been processed and will be part of election night,” Finwall said.

“The earlier the better. Instead of being part of election day, where we just get the preponderance, we just get a very large quantity of our mail ballots and at that point we have to go through that whole quantity to make sure it’s counted.We’re going to have a 24-hour team processing those ballots for the first week to get through them,” Finwall continued.

Early voting by mail ballot return, live voting or requesting a replacement mail ballot began Oct. 5, 2026,  at the San Bernardino Registrar of Voters office at 777 East Rialto Avenue in San Bernardino. The 

“Drive-thru Drop-off” voting option at the San Bernardino Registrar of Voters office begins Oct. 19, the voter registration deadline is also Oct. 19 and the deadline to request a replacement ballot is Oct. 27. 

“You have up until October 19 to actually register to vote. What that means is a ballot will then be mailed to your home that you can vote. If you wait until election day, you can actually come in on election day, but you have to then vote provisionally because we have to process your registration. But once you’re processed and everything’s good to go, your vote will then be counted,” Finwall stated.

Beginning  Oct. 29th, the San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters will have 10 other locations throughout the county for early voting that are listed on their website.  Early voters can hand in their ballot or cast their vote live at any of the listed locations and on election day they will also have the option to go to their assigned polling place. 

“We’re letting everyone know, go to the polling place near you. You can cast your ballot live at any of our locations. It doesn’t have to just be your assigned polling place. So all of those votes will be counted by the end of election night. Any live vote will be counted at the end of election night,” Finwall said.

Finwall encouraged voters to visit the California Secretary of State, Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D’s website,  WheresMyBallot.sos.ca.gov  in order for them to “have peace of mind” knowing what’s happening with their ballot. Once voters register or log in to the online ballot tracker, it will send them an update of their preference via a  text message, email or voice alert  that shares with them the status of their ballot. 

“When you look at your community, when you look at where your children go to school and how your district provides education, when you look at how your city runs county, all the way through the state, federal, you’re one way to make a difference… is by using your vote,” Finwall said. “Making sure that you take the opportunity to cast a ballot that represents what you want, and we go out of our way to make sure that you have the opportunity to do so.”

This story is brought to you with support of the United Domestic Workers of America.