Californian voters in my county:

‘United States Postal Service’ provides us with a good recommendation: that if we are dropping off our ballot with the letter carrier, at a post office, or in out-bound mailbox, to “allow for at least 7 transit days for your ballot to get to our county registrar, before November 3, 2020”. It’s recommended that you do the same when dropping ballot off at any certified election-season drop box bins set up around our town.

If you are voting “in-person” (early, or on election day), be aware that your ballot that was mailed to you [(“absentee”) or (“mail-in ballot”)] is practically a practice only ballot. It will either be destroyed or given to no effect, to the election worker at the polling station, before you are given a replacement one to then use at the polling site officially. That new one, you will mark in a booth and then submit via electronic scanning device on site. If you are an easily confused person, this method might not be best. Trying to remember your votes by heart, is far too difficult.

If you marked your “mail-in” ballot for self reference purposes only (so you know your selections), long before in-person election day, and you intend to transfer those selections onto the new ballot when you vote in person, you may find that difficult or confusing as you cannot scan your own original ballot.

I called the county with some questions about that.
My county has advised that you destroy the first ballot which was mailed to you, before entering the vote-in-person site. You can always bring a “cheat sheet/list” with you, that you’ve written on regular paper. Bring that into your booth after checking in and verifying your identity at reception. Your ballot will then get scanned into their computer. This method has some impracticality.

“In-person” voting requires you to validate your name and address (at the check-in desk). “Mail-in” method requires of you your hand-written signature – placed on your bar-coded, “vote-by-mail” or “drop-off” ballot’s envelope.

If you vote by mail, be sure to check your ballot info booklet for the web address to “track it”. There, you can “sign up for alerts by text (SMS), email, or voice call, as to the status of your vote-by-mail ballot.” Assuming the technology is reliable, that’s a pretty reassuring option.

My “vote-by-mail” envelope contains a bar code. And, my ballot contains some bar codes as well. I personally do not know what is on any of those bar codes. While the envelope must be signed and sealed, no personally identifiable information is on the ballot itself, except for what is presumably stored in the bar codes (to match my single ballot, to my name and identity presumably and hopefully). The ballot contains various bar codes that do not resemble the one on the envelope.

The envelope is received (if mailed securely) by the county registrar at a PO Box. If voting this way, vote early. And, be sure that your envelope has postage paid. If not, stamp it with a standard first class stamp.