Final election preparations underway in Merced County

MERCED COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Merced County workers were seen gathering mail-in ballots on Monday afternoon.

With less than 24 hours until the election, Registrar of Voters Mel Levey says it's been a busy time.

"We've had staff working long days, every single day to staff the vote centers," said Levey.

He has noticed a lot of early voting activity this year.

As of Monday morning, there were more than 40,000 ballots cast within the county.

"Our previous highest turnout for Merced County was just under 79% in November 2020. I think we'll come pretty close to that if not break that. And that would indicate to us that at least 100,000 ballots could be cast for this election," said Levey.

Merced resident Mike Conway and his wife were just two of dozens of people casting their ballot.

Conway believes it's important to participate in the democratic process.

"One of the top issues I think is a woman's right to choose, housing is a big issue and there's a number of things on that ballot, basically I think if you have any kind of issue that you are facing, it's on the ballot this year," said Conway.

The federal reserve says it plans to cut interest rates by a quarter point on Thursday - no matter what happens during elections.

But future actions could depend on the policies of the next administration.

Whatever the outcome, Conway hopes people lead with kindness towards one another.

"On Wednesday, the sun is gonna rise, the birds are gonna be singing and things are gonna be maybe not normal, but life is going to continue," said Conway.

On Election Day, voting centers across the county will be open from 7am to 8pm.

For voter information, you can go to the county website.