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Well, Election Day isn’t the same since the pandemic and the state’s adoption of universal vote-by-mail. Election Day is just the culmination of Election Month. It’s less like grabbing hold of a 10,000-kilowatt transmission line and more like licking a 9-volt battery.

Still, the old rituals must be observed! And for many, that means procrastinating and procrastinating until today, when you gotta vote by 8 p.m. or forever hold your peace. And a lot of people are doing that, it seems. As of this morning, only about 16,000 ballots have been returned, according to county elections officials.

How do you vote? Remember that ballot you got in the mail? Fill it out, seal it in the envelope, sign it and drop it off at any of the county’s convenient drop boxes … or just pop it in the mail (as long as you’re sure it will be postmarked today.) Or maybe you want to vote at your polling place, like in the old days? There aren’t as many polling places as there were in the before times, but you can do that anyway. Your polling place should be listed on your sample ballot. If you don’t know it, you can show up at the nearest one – here’s a list – and they will help you. REMEMBER: If you go to your polling place, bring the vote-by-mail ballot that was mailed to you, if at all possible. That will save a lot of headache.

California also has same-day registration, if you are eligible to vote and for some reason not yet registered. They’re gonna be busy as hell today, but the good people at the Humboldt County Elections Office will help you with this or any other problem. They’re at 2426 Sixth Street in Eureka, and their number is (707) 445-7481.

Want to know where the candidates for local office stand on the issues? Peruse our LoCO Elections pop-up site, where those candidates have been busy taking questions from readers on all sorts of topics. Confused about who to vote for in the statewide races? Our friends at CalMatters have a cool guide that might help.

And when all is said and done, check back here on the Outpost this evening! We’ll be hitting up campaign parties just like in the pre-COVID days, and we’ll post the returns as soon as the Elections Office publishes them.

Happy Election Day, everyone!