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Ventura County not only had record registration numbers for this election, but also headed into the Election Day with high early turnout.

Back in 2016, the county had received just over 145,000 ballots before the election, according to Miranda Nobriga, spokeswoman for the elections division. This year, 320,498, or 64%, were returned by mail or dropped off by Tuesday.

"So more than twice as many," Nobriga said. "Ventura County voters, they got the message loud and clear to return their ballots early."

Big numbers of early returns were reported throughout California as election offices sent mail-in ballots to all registered voters for the first time. It was one of the changes made because of the coronavirus pandemic in the state.

Elections officials and others pushed the message to vote early, saying the state needed to flatten the ballot curve. Doing so would help counties process ballots without big delays and may help avoiding long waits at the polls.

Voters did flatten the curve, said Kim Alexander, president and founder of the nonprofit California Voter Foundation.

"The early turnout in the election was just phenomenal," she said. "I've never seen anything like it before." (Full Story)