There will be even less polling locations this year on Election Day. Blame that on the increase in the number of absentee ballots being requested and returned days before Election Day.

Precincts where there are less than 250 voters going there to vote on Election Day are being closed, and the voters are sent mail ballots. The registered voters can then drop these mail ballots at any polling location. There 169 such mail ballot precincts throughout San Joaquin County with less than 250 voters, said Vassem Nakhla, candidate filing supervisor at the San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters.

Mail ballots were mailed on Oct. 6, the same day the 174,808 absentee ballots were sent out, Nakhla said.

There are 319 polling locations throughout the county. The breakdown identifying the number for each city in the county was not immediately available as of press time.

The increase in absentee ballot voting means there are less workers needed to work at the precincts. Still, the Registrar of Voters office continues to recruit additional workers to work at the precincts on Election Day, Nakhla said.

More than half of the total registered voters in the county have requested absentee ballots this year. As of Friday, nearly 36,000 voters have returned their absentee ballots. While the number of ballots received are counted and monitored, votes are not counted. The ballots will be opened and the votes counted after the closing of the polls on Election Day at 8 p.m., at the same time the results from all the precincts are tallied, Nakhla said.