LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Absentee ballots, as well as sample ballot booklets for the March primary, are on their way to voters this week, according to the Lake County Registrar of Voters Office.

Interim Registrar Diane Fridley said that the official vote-by-mail ballots – more commonly known as absentees – were delivered to the San Francisco Sorting Center by the county’s official ballot printing vendor on Monday.

Voters should begin receiving their vote-by-mail ballots in the mail within three to 10 days from the mailing date, Fridley said.

If voters need their vote-by-mail ballot sooner than the estimated delivery date, Fridley said they may visit the Registrar of Voters’ office – in Room 209 on the second floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St. in Lakeport – and a vote-by-mail ballot will be issued to them.

Alternately, Fridley said voters may call the Registrar of Voters Office at 707-263-2372 and staff will mail them a vote-by-mail ballot.

Fridley said any registered voter who would like to be issued an official vote-by-mail ballot in lieu of voting at his or her polling place may either personally phone the Registrar of Voters Office at 707-263-2372 or complete the application for vote-by-mail voter’s ballot on the back of their sample ballot booklet and the request must be received by the Registrar of Voters Office no later than 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 25 to request a vote-by-mail ballot by mail.

The applications also can be filled out at the Registrar of Voters Office in Lakeport prior to the close of the polls at 8 p.m. on Election Day – Tuesday, March 3 – to be issued a vote-by-mail ballot, Fridley said.

Fridley also reported that the sample ballot/information booklets will be delivered to the San Francisco Sorting Center by the county’s sample ballot printing vendor on Friday morning.