The Votemobile debuted on Oct. 24 at Arroyo Grande High School for its first pop-up mobile voting event.
The Votemobile, a van outfitted with a ballot drop box, drives to different areas in San Luis Obispo County to get voters to cast their ballots. Voters can cast their ballot by walking up to van and depositing it, or they can stay in their car and a runner will deposit their ballot for them.
 California recently allocated money to each county to increase voter outreach and make voting quicker. This allowed the Votemobile to come to life this year, according to Cano.Â
The proposal was finally approved on Oct. 6, bringing the resource to voters less than a month later.
“I’m so excited, we drove it off the lot this morning,” Cano said. “I hope that this increases voter turnout, as we are meeting voters where they’re at instead of them having to find one of our 18 drop boxes.”
Erin Clausen, the public information officer for the Clerk-Recorder’s Office, added how she felt Votemobile would impact the community.
“We’ve talked with people this cycle, and there’s been a lot of concern about sending ballots back in the mail,” Clausen said, “This gives us the opportunity to bring drop boxes to more places and talk with SLO County voters.”
Most voters took advantage of the drive-up option and handed their ballots to a ballot runner, who brings ballots from peoples car the the Votemobile’s dropbox. Despite this, some still chose to walk up and drop their own ballots; among them were Dan and Tonia Malone.
Dan and Tonia are both Cal Poly faculty. Dan works in Technology Services, contributing to the portal website, and Tonia is a lead Learning Management System ambassador and works with Canvas for Cal Poly. They chose to vote at the Votemobile rather than on campus.Â
“This made it easier to drop off our ballot,” Dan said.
Dan and Tonia were contemplating where to vote until they learned about the Votemobile. Other voters like San Luis Obispo County resident Nancie Hardy also didn’t know where to vote in this election.
“It makes it a lot easier because I used to drop them off at the library, but now it’s closed,” Hardy said. “For this election, I wanted to get our ballot in sooner rather than later, and this is an exciting way.”
Noah Wernen, an Arroyo Grande High School senior, is part of the San Luis Obispo County Clerk’s Student Election Ambassadors Program and wanted to bring more awareness about elections to his community.
“It’s such a difficult process to go to a polling place on election day, but events like this provide the county the opportunity for more votes, and people the opportunity to cast their ballots early,” Wernen said.
According to a San Luis Obispo County press release, after the election, the vehicle will have another purpose, hosting “destination marriage ceremonies” at county parks and pop-up vital record events. The Votemobile will visit various locations around the county, offering convenient records services like issuing birth certificates and marriage licenses.
Goals for the Votemobile in 2027 include increasing the technology to scan and distribute ballots, according to Cano.
“We will be outfitting it with technology so it won’t just be a drop box; we will be able to issue ballots, a lot more is coming,” Cano said.
For now, the Votemobile will visit other locations, like Cuesta College, for more people to cast their ballot up until election day on Nov. 3.