SALINAS, Calif. -- Five days until Election Day and the question tonight: Are you getting a second vote?
Several people on the central coast are coming forward saying they received multiple ballots in the mail.
Whether your name is spelled wrong, or there's a different address on your ballot, chances are you'll be getting two ballots in the mail and it's happening to people across the central coast.
Election officials said the big mix-up could be because of new deadlines: the first day to get your ballot and the last day to register.
The two deadlines used to be the same, but now they are just weeks apart.
The Santa Cruz County Elections Department said in that amount of time, people could move, give a new address and the office would send another ballot.
The problem? There's a lot of ballot overlap.
The Monterey County Elections office said sometimes it receives registration records with changes or corrections after it already mailed out election materials.
When that happens, it cancels the duplicate ballot and any ballot associated with the old record, so the voter can't vote twice.
So, even if people tried to mail in both ballots, one wouldn't be counted.
The second safeguard? Elections officials also track your signature to match what's on file for your registration.
If you try to send two ballots and are caught, the elections department will turn you in to the district attorney's office.
