SALINAS, Calif. -- The moment you walk into a voting booth this November, the timer will start. State law says you've got ten minutes to get through the ballot.
Not only are you voting for the Presidential race, depending where you live, you will also be voting for city and county races and measures, and not to mention the 11 statewide propositions. Some may find it hard to finish.
Salinas has at least 21 ballot items, that's less than 30 seconds per ballot item.
The question is, can the pressure and information overload impact the way you vote?
Director of Behavioral Health, Dr. Wayne Clark said studies show the overload often has a negative effect.
"There's just too much information, too many advertisement, there's too many conflicting sets of data," said Dr. Wayne.
Dr. Wayne said because the brain can only handle so much at one time, when you're in the booth, its hard to recall all the facts. Instead, your mind begins to filter in what feels comfortable, sometimes leading to uninformed decisions.
Monterey County Elections Head, Linda Tullet, has seen it before, voters come in and get overwhelmed.
What's worst, Dr. Wayne said when faced with information overload, studies show some may give up, close their ballot and not even finish.
"A lot of folks will look for key words, key ideas, key experiences, that resonate within them. If they don't they will disregard it," said Dr. Wayne.
But while you're looking for these defining key elements in prop 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, and so on.
Time is running out.
