Join us for a uniquely nonpartisan, issues-based community conversation with all you want and need to know about the June Primary.
SAVE THE DATE: Town hall-type in-person Voting Matters event coming to Modesto May 27
Got questions about anything on the June 2 Primary ballot, whether local races or the cage fight going on for California governor? Want to know more before you cast a vote for an obscure office or issue? Or maybe you just like talking politics?
Put a hold on your calendar for the evening of May 27. That’s when we at The Modesto Focus are teaming up with CalMatters to host a free Voting Matters community conversation, the first of its kind in Modesto or Stanislaus County.
Our nonprofit-news partners at CalMatters – the state’s premiere source for understanding Sacramento and how decisions there affect us here – will bring its vaunted 2026 Voter Guide to life for attendees.
And I will present a segment on the most intriguing local races to represent Stanislaus County on the local, state and national levels (if you haven’t already, be sure to check out Modesto Focus-moderated debates on our new elections page).
If all that weren’t enough, there will be light food. And drinks. And lots of talk, including the interactive kind – all in a civil environment designed to help us learn not just from the experts, but also from each other.
And yes, you are invited!
→6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 27
→Contentment Brewing Co., 208 Campus Way, Modesto, across the street from Modesto Junior College
See you in a couple of weeks!
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Although many thousands of Stanislaus voters have safely and confidently voted by mail over many years, it turns out there is a potentially significant catch.
All mail these days is routed through a regional distribution center in West Sacramento. Any letter could receive a postmark two days or more after being dropped in a mailbox in Modesto, Turlock, Ceres, Oakdale or anywhere around here.
And any ballot envelope postmarked after Election Day – June 2 in the current election – won’t count.
If you wait until a day or two before Election Day to drop your ballot in the mail, there’s a decent chance you’ve just wasted your time.
Is this a big deal? Well, 3,019 ballots from Stanislaus County were rejected in the November vote on Proposition 50 because of the postmark technicality, my colleague Rachel Livinal found in a terrific report on this problem.
You read that right – more than 3,000 of us went to the trouble to vote last fall for nothing, simply because we mailed our ballots too late. Even if we didn’t.
“We recommend sending it seven days before, just to be safe,” Stanislaus County Clerk-Recorder Donna Linder told me. Or you can use ballot drop boxes sprinkled throughout the county any time now through June 2, or visit any of several vote centers starting May 23 – see Linder’s website for details.
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Did everyone catch the reference to Modesto in a televised debate last week between candidates for governor?
“It shouldn’t cost more to get to Modesto than it’s cost us to get to the moon,” San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said in the May 5 debate hosted by CNN. California deserves a modern train system, he said, while bashing delays and the exorbitant expense of high-speed rail.
Unexpected, but also a little off. Modesto isn’t on the initial line connecting the Bay Area to Southern California – which remains years away, assuming it eventually happens. Maybe Mahan just likes the alliterative pairing of “Modesto” with “moon.”
Feel free to share notes, tips and insights for Stanislaus-centric campaign coverage at garth@themodestofocus.org.