City, National Election takes place Tuesday

Three vacancies on the Canyon Lake City Council will be filled as part of Tuesday’s general election from a field of five candidates. Two of the five men on the ballet are incumbents. Current Council Member Randy Bonner did not run for re-election.

Current Mayor Jordan Ehrenkranz and Council Member Larry Greene are on the ballot for new terms on the council. Paul Kakis, Dale Welty and Jim Randle fill out the field.

The three candidates with the most votes will serve on the city council for a term of four years. There are five members of the city council. Mayor Pro-tem Casey Castillo and Council Member Jeremy Smith are the two members of the city council whose terms expire in two years.

There are a number of options for voting this year. With COVID-19 concerns, all registered voters received ballots in the mail. These ballots can be mailed in or dropped off at local locations. Alternatively, voting can take place at a community Voter Assistance Center.

In order to assist with physical distancing, the Voter Assistance Center will be open for in-person voting four days prior to the election, starting tomorrow (Saturday). The center will offer voter registration, accessible voting machines and the opportunity to drop off mail-in ballots. The center is located at the Canyon Lake Golf & Country Club’s Magnolia Room.

The Voter Assistance Center will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Saturday through Monday and from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on election day, Tuesday.

For those wanting to vote using the voting machine at the Voter Assistance Center, the ballots mailed to them should be brought with them to the center. If arriving without the ballot, the individual can still vote, but will be given a provisional ballot. The provisional ballot will be counted after county elections officials have confirmed the person voting is registered to vote in that county and did not vote more than once in that election.

The completed ballots can also be dropped off at Canyon Lake City Hall. While City Hall remains closed to the public for COVID-19 reasons, employees are still working there. To drop off a ballot call the city and the staff will open up to allow the ballots to be dropped off. Those arriving at City Hall for this purpose can call 951-244-2955, Option 0.

The city will also be hosting a ballot drive-thru from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday. Those wishing to participate in the drive-thru will need to have their ballots ready to submit, making sure they are signed and in the sealed ballot envelope. City Hall is located next to the Canyon Lake POA offices in the Canyon Lake Town Center at 31516 Railroad Canyon Road.

Of course, the ballots can be mailed in the postage-paid ballot envelope via the US Postal Service. The deadline for mailing ballots is Tuesday.