The County Voter Information Guide for the June 2026 primary election has been mailed. It has information about how, when and where voters can submit their ballots. Ballots will be mailed to registered voters around May 4th. Once you get your ballot you can:

• Return it by mail any time from May 4th through Election Day, June 2nd. For mailed ballots to be counted, they must have been postmarked on or before June 2nd AND have been delivered to the County Office of Voter Registration and Elections by the 7th day after Election Day. 
• Drop it off at ANY official Ballot Drop Box location any time from May 2nd through November 4, Election Day. The Voter Information Guide has a list of the locations and the days and times the drop boxes are available. Note that the days and times vary from place to place.
• Drop it off OR vote in person at ANY Vote Center. Some Vote Centers will be open from May 23rd through June 2nd. Others will be open from May 30th through June 2nd. Voting hours vary from place to place, but all Vote Centers will be open from 7am to 8pm on Election Day, June 2nd.

There are many constitutional offices, congressional and state legislative seats, judicial seats and some local offices on the ballot.  We urge all eligible voters here to exercise their right to vote. To do so, voters must register by May 18th, however conditional registration starts on May 19th and runs through Election Day, June 2nd. So, for example, a citizen who moves into California after May 19th is eligible to vote as a conditional voter. See the Voter Information Guide or contact the County Office of Voter Registration and Elections for details. The phone number for the County Office is (916) 875-6451 and the website is www.elections.saccounty.gov.

The Voter Information Guide is straightforward. It's all clear and simple clear,  unless you happen to live in certain invisible unincorporated communities like ours. The guide tells you where to find ballot drop boxes and vote centers in lots of places - cities or unincorporated communities - BUT NOT ARDEN ARCADE! Drop boxes and vote centers handy to our beloved nowhereland are listed as being in Sacramento. Sure, you can use ANY of the County's 62 drop box locations and you can go to ANY of the County's 91 vote centers, but if you want to use locations in our unincorporatedcommunity, your choices are:

• A DROP BOX at the Arcade Library (2443 Marconi) open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10am-6pm May 4 through May 30 and on Election Day June 2nd from 7am-8pm, or
• VOTE CENTERS at:

1. Conzelmann Community Center in Howe Park (2201 Cottage Way) open daily from 9am-5pm from May 23rd through June 1st AND from 7am to 8pm on Election Day, June 2nd.
2. Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer (4641 Marconi) open daily from 8am-4pm from May 23rd through June 1st AND from 7am to 8pm on Election Day, June 2nd.
3. Arcade Library (2443 Marconi) open Tuesdays through Saturdays 9am-5pm from May 30th through June 1st AND from 7am to 8pm on Election Day, June 2nd

We are tired of saying this, but....We sure wish the County would list the election sites in Arden Arcade so we don't have to! The County's Voter Guide has hidden the Arden Arcade sites before in 2025, 2024, 2022, 2021, 2020, and 2018. Why? Because our community's mailing addresses are set by the U.S. Post Office as a way to assign work to their employees. No matter who is our Supervisor, the County's Voter Guide routinely takes the easy way out, relying on the Post Office's Zip Codes that make it seem like our community is part of the City of Sacramento (which it is not) instead of identifying our community the way they do for other unincorporated communities like Antelope, Carmichael, Courtland, Fair Oaks, Gold River, Rancho Murrieta, Rio Linda, Walnut Grove and Wilton. Further, for this election, the Arden Dimick Library (a traditional drop box location) is being remodeled, so THERE ARE NO DROP BOXES IN ZIP CODE 95825! Isn't that special? Obscuring our community identity creates confusion for  the public, our residents and our businesses. Other places - cities and even some unincorporated communities - have taken action to straighten things out, including a baby step our Supervisor once took at one of our many freeway off-ramps. It might be different if our community of 100,000 people was a city, but it's not.