20 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY MAY 28-JUNE 3, 2026 www.montereycountynow.com An early voting location in Seaside (Embassy Suites, 1441 Canyon Del Rey Blvd.) is open 8am-5pm Friday, May 29 and Monday, June 1, and from 9am-5pm Saturday-Sunday, May 30-31. Additional early voting locations include the Big Sur branch library (3-6pm Thursday, May 28) and the bookmobile at Pajaro Community Park (2-4pm Friday, May 29). “We’ve built on the early voting program providing more ways and more days to vote,” Martinez says. The goal, she says, is to make voting more convenient, accessible and community‑centered. Part of early voting entails bringing elections staff and additional services to voters, beyond what is available at polling places on Election Day, offering additional support as needed. In addition, Martinez and her team have chosen to continue operating with a polling place model—with 60 polling places run by poll workers on Election Day, plus two professionally staffed locations—instead of a vote center model, which would mean roughly 22 consolidated voting locations. “Given the configuration of our county—the size, layout, where our voters are and how our voters use polling places—it makes sense to keep that flexibility open so that we can serve the voters,” Martinez says. During the last midterm primary election (June of 2022), voter turnout in Monterey County was just 31 percent. “This activity of voting is the most fundamental to who we are as a community and who we are as a county and who we are as a country,” Martinez says. “This very local, very ordinary action of voting just has such an immediate and significant impact on our community’s daily lives. Not everyone is eligible to vote but everyone is impacted by the decisions our voters make.” In addition to a slate of 61 candidates for governor—including some who suspended their campaigns after the ballot was already printed—and other statewide offices, voters in Monterey County have several local races to decide on. (For more of our election coverage, visit montereycountynow.com.) Voter registration has closed for the June 2 primary, but eligible voters can still register to cast a provisional ballot any time, including on Election Day. To register, visit registertovote.ca.gov. For any questions about how to vote, check with the County Elections Office at (831) 796-1499 or montereycountyelections.us. You can also view an interactive map online of all secure ballot dropbox locations. Voting in California has never been easier. All registered voters should have already received a ballot in the mail, which you can return in a variety of ways—by U.S. mail or by hand delivery to one of 22 dropboxes located around Monterey County. (Of those, 19 are available 24/7.) If you prefer to vote in person, County of Monterey Elections Department officials recommend you bring your vote-by-mail ballot with you when you show up at the polls for early voting or at your polling place on Election Day, although that is not a requirement. You can also drop off your mail-in ballot at any polling place on June 2. For those who do choose to mail in a completed ballot, no postage is required. Ballots must be postmarked by Election Day (June 2) and will be counted as long as they are received by June 9. To track your ballot in the mail, sign up to receive email, phone or text alerts at WheresMyBallot.sos. ca.gov. (County Registrar of Voters Gina Martinez recommends that if you are returning your ballot by mail at this point, approaching Election Day, that you bring it to a U.S. Postal Service counter to get it postmarked.) Early voting is already underway and continues weekdays from 8am-5pm through June 1 at the County Elections Office (1441 Schilling Place, Salinas). They also offer weekend voting 9am-5pm on May 30-31. from the Villaraigosa campaign. Reed did not respond to a request for comment. Gomberg and Kaitlyn Hennessy, friends who met at a Becerra rally, have both posted frequently in favor of his campaign—for free, they say. The pair began sleuthing online in early May, eventually filing a complaint with the FPPC alleging Steyer’s campaign hired Roche, Washington and several other content creators to post on his behalf without disclosing it. Posing as another, unnamed campaign, they emailed creators offering paid political content work to prompt them to talk about posting for Steyer’s campaign. One account, @isabel.speakss, purported to belong to a “so cal girl sharing her thoughts” named Isabel Mendoza and has exclusively posted about Steyer since May 9. The woman in the videos appears identical to Jade Johnson, a Florida-based influencer. Another account, @jess.votes, is linked to another Florida content creator. Since the complaint was filed, Roche and the other creators have included disclaimers in their posts. None of them responded to inquiries asking if they knew about the campaign disclosure law. After being asked by Johnson whether she was asked to pose as a California voter, the @isabel.speakss account on May 18 removed the “so cal” description from its profile. None of those creators are listed in Steyer’s latest campaign finance filings as subcontractors of any digital strategy firm. Steyer spokesperson Liao said they will appear in the next filing. Reporters reached out to all the creators listed in the filings; none agreed to an interview. They include lifestyle influencers, comedians and musicians whom Steyer paid between $1,500 and $10,000, mostly through another firm, to post video interviews with Steyer or talk about his platform. One of them labeled her video a “paid partnership.” Others did not disclose campaign payments or have since deleted their videos. This story first appeared on CalMatters, where Jeanne Kuang covers politics and state government, Yue Stella Yu covers politics and Maya C. Miller covers government accountability. “Not everyone is eligible to vote but everyone is impacted by the decisions our voters make.” Vote Count Poll pad technology is one way Monterey County voters can now cast their votes on Election Day. With Election Day approaching on June 2, there are many ways to vote. By Sara Rubin PLAY continued from page 18 DANIEL DREIFUSS
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