Mad River, California Public Records

California residents can register to vote online at registertovote.ca.gov up to 15 days before any election. Same Day Voter Registration, also called conditional voter registration, is available during the 14-day period before and including Election Day at designated locations. To register, voters must be U.S. Citizens, California residents, at least 18 years old by Election Day, and not currently serving a state or federal prison term for a felony conviction. California automatically registers eligible voters through the Department of Motor Vehicles under the Motor Voter Act unless individuals opt out. As an unincorporated community, Mad River has no municipal government, which means no city council or mayoral elections. Instead, residents vote in Trinity County Board of Supervisors elections, the county is divided into five districts, with the area falling in District 4, along with other county offices including Sheriff, District Attorney, Assessor, Auditor-Controller, Clerk-Recorder, and Treasurer-Tax Collector.Current federal, state, and local election schedules, ballot contests, candidate filings, and certified results for Mad voters are published by the California Secretary of State (https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections). Residents can find their assigned polling place by visiting the California Secretary of State's polling place lookup tool at www.sos.ca.gov/elections/polling-place or by contacting the Trinity County Elections Office directly. Trinity County has transitioned to a Vote Center model under California's Voter's Choice Act, meaning that in recent elections, any registered voter can vote at any Vote Center in Trinity County during the days leading up to and including Election Day, rather than being restricted to a single assigned precinct location. Given the distances involved in Trinity County, the Mad River area may have limited Vote Center access, and most residents use vote-by-mail ballots. California is a universal vote-by-mail state: every registered voter automatically receives a ballot in the mail approximately 29 days before each election, which can be returned by mail (postmarked by Election Day), dropped in official ballot drop boxes throughout Trinity County, or brought to any Vote Center. California's election records are extensively public under the California Public Records Act. Voter registration lists, excluding confidential voters such as those in address confidentiality programs, are available for purchase by campaigns and researchers through county elections offices. Campaign finance records for state and local candidates are searchable online through the California Fair Political Practices Commission at www.fppc.ca.gov for state-level races and through the Trinity County Elections Office for local candidates. Candidate filings, including statements of economic interest (Form 700) for local officials, nomination papers, and campaign statements, are public records available for inspection. Precinct-level election results are published by the Trinity County Elections Office after each election and archived on the Trinity County website, showing vote totals by contest and geographic area. California law (Elections Code Section 2194) allows any person to observe the elections process, including ballot processing and vote counting, though observers must follow established protocols and cannot interfere with election workers.