UC has relaunched its get-out-the-vote campaign, while UC Davis is working to bring in the vote — the ballots, that is, in a newly installed, official drop box on the Davis campus.

“This is truly a great day for UC Davis and democracy in Yolo County,” Chancellor Gary S. May said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony April 19 for the drop box outside the northeast corner of Hunt Hall, across from the Memorial Union bus terminal. “I couldn’t be prouder that UC Davis is home to the first ballot box to be installed permanently on a UC campus in Northern California.”

Shirley N. Weber, secretary of state, and Jesse Salinas, Yolo County’s chief election official, joined the chancellor in cutting the ribbon around the box, which also had been adorned with balloons.

The “UC Votes” campaign encourages members of the university community to participate in the state’s June 7 primary election, by becoming informed, and by registering and voting. The new drop box, Chancellor May said, “will make it easier and more convenient for our UC Davis community to participate in the democratic process.”

The 2022 primary includes the following races:

• California — Governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, controller, treasurer, attorney general, insurance commissioner, superintendent of public instruction, state Assembly, and, depending on where you live, state Senate and Board of Equalization
• Congress — Two Senate seats (one for a full term, the other for the remainder of a term ending Jan. 3, 2023), and House of Representatives

Every voter in the state will receive a “vote-by-mail” ballot (elections offices are due to start mailing them May 9). Despite their name, ballots can be returned in other ways besides the mail.

The mail option, postage-free, requires a postmark on or before Tuesday, June 7. Otherwise, you can deliver your ballot to any polling place or put it in any drop box by 8 p.m. June 7.

Polling place or drop box location does not matter for ballot drop-off. So, for example, if you are a Sacramento County voter who works on the Davis campus (in Yolo County), and you put your ballot in the campus drop box, Yolo County will forward your ballot to Sacramento.

Take the pledge

The UC Votes website includes a section where you can register to vote, and a “vote” section where you can check your registration status and learn where you can vote in person, or where and when to turn in your ballot. The “vote” section also can display the ballot for your address, along with nonpartisan information on the candidates.

REGISTRATION

For the June 7 primary election, the stated deadline to register is May 23. You can register after that date, up to and including election day, but your ballot will be provisional until your registration is verified.

UC community members also are invited to pledge to vote, and those who do will receive email reminders about the election.

The outreach campaign, including social media posts and an updated UC Votes website, targets staff, faculty, alumni and, of course, students, who turned out in force in the 2020 general election, achieving 75% turnout, up from less than 50% in 2016 (among students who were eligible to vote).

UC Davis earned an award for the most improvement in student voter turnout in the 2020 general election, 75.7%, up from 43% four years earlier, among nearly 300 four-year public colleges and universities in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. The award program also honored UC Davis for student voter engagement.

“A permanent ballot box will keep this momentum growing,” Chancellor May said at the ribbon-cutting. “It’s a way to help empower our students and campus affiliates to become lifelong voters and active with civic engagement. We also welcome other county voters who find UC Davis a convenient place to drop off their ballot.”