What’s at stake?
The California Advocate, Fresno’s historic Black community newspaper, raised concerns in a recent editorial about the fact that the city’s southwest residents are serviced by only one in-person vote center in the June 2 primary election.
The Fresno County Clerk says he’s open to discussions about adding a second in-person vote center for southwest Fresno — the part of Fresno currently home to just one — but voters may not realistically see that change until 2028.
This update comes after the California Advocate, Fresno’s historic Black community newspaper, slammed the county in a recent editorial for offering only one vote center in the 93706 ZIP code. That center is located at the West Fresno Regional Center on California Avenue, near Edison High School.
Vote centers not only serve as locations where people can drop off their mailed ballots but also offer opportunities to vote in person and access assistance with things like same-day registration.
That’s why Mark Kimber, publisher of the California Advocate, wrote that the smattering of dropboxes in 93706 in addition to the one vote center doesn’t cut it.
“A ballot drop box is helpful, but a drop box is not a Vote Center,” he said. “A drop box cannot answer questions.”
Kimber added that the matter of voter access is especially critical for southwest Fresno as a “historically Black, Latino, working-class and underserved area that has long fought for fair political representation.”
He didn’t return Fresnoland’s requests for comment.
James Kus, the Fresno County Clerk/Registrar of Voters, told Fresnoland in an interview May 29 that his office hadn’t received any direct contact this year from other locations in southwest Fresno that might want to become vote centers — but that he’s always open to the discussion.
However, there’s “absolutely not” enough time for his office to open a second one for the June 2 election — something Kimber called for in his editorial — given that Kus’ office locks in contracts and reservations with in-person vote center locations a year or more in advance.
Part of the challenge of pinning down vote centers locations, Kus added, is that they must have both weekend and weekday availability, which can be a challenge for schools and churches. They also need to meet the latest accessibility standards, something difficult among facilities not only in southwest Fresno but neighborhoods across the city.
“The facilities themselves are fine for what they do now. They met requirements when they were built, or have brought themselves up to a level,” he said. “But I’m not allowed to work with prior requirements. I have to work with current requirements. And that can be tough.”
That’s why it’s likely voters won’t see a new vote center until at least 2028, unless a site reaches out to his office and either already meets those standards or can make those updates in time.
At least one location went through that process in recent years and landed on the roster of vote centers. Malaga’s Arriaga Community Center contacted Kus’ office about becoming a vote center and then made necessary updates to accessibility standards on site, such as accessible parking, in response to the Clerk’s Office’s feedback.
“It’s not an instant process,” Kus added. “But it’s one we would be open to looking at.”
One thing Kus would want to ensure when exploring other locations, however, is that it’s not too close to the existing vote center on California Avenue. When centers are too close to each other, he said, they tend to “cannibalize each other’s usage.”
“I bet Edison High School probably has a pretty good place for me to go,” Kus said, as an example, “but it’s right next door to West Fresno Regional Center.”
Until then, the clerk said he can promise one thing:
“We will be in west Fresno,” he said. “We’re going to maintain that 11-day vote center.
“We’re ready to address questions from members of the community and work with them, maybe to bring another vote center to west Fresno, if we can find a location,” he added. “Probably not until 2028, but the door is not closed.”
What do southwest Fresno voters think?
Voters who turned in ballots at the West Fresno Regional Center on Monday had differing takes on how accessible in-person voting has been in their neighborhood.
Married couple Ralph Castaneda and Mary Delgado filled out their ballots at the center Monday morning after not receiving theirs in the mail.
They’ve had relatively easy access to the center in past elections, driving less than a mile to the vote center from their residence near Church and Elm.
“It don’t take us long at all to get here, and then they’re real helpful inside,” Castaneda said.
Julia Sanford said it took her only about seven minutes to drive to the vote center and submit her ballot Monday morning — but that she preferred when the closest place to vote was “like 45 seconds” from her house.
“I used to vote at West Park (Elementary) School,” she said, “which was just down the street from me.
“It was really convenient there,” she added, “and there’s a fair amount of people between Jensen and Prospect, and then down Valentine.”
Dionne Johnson isn’t a 93706 resident but works at the West Fresno Regional Center, which makes voting convenient for her.
But she said she could see how if she didn’t have a car, it would be difficult to access the vote center.
If another vote center in southwest Fresno were to open, she and her colleague, Lenai Brown, floated the Mary Ella Brown Center off of Annadale Avenue as an idea of another location that would benefit southwest residents.
“That would be good for 93706,” Johnson said.
Voting access in the June 2 primary and other upcoming elections
June 2 is the last day to vote in the 2026 primary election.
The county’s 54 in-person vote centers are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day.
There are also nearly 70 drop boxes available throughout the county where voters can submit ballots.
Election officials have encouraged voters to make use of drop boxes or vote centers at this point rather than mailing their ballots since it’s difficult to guarantee the ballot will be received by the county elections office in time to be counted.
For future elections, Kus said that voters with questions or proposed locations regarding future vote centers in southwest Fresno can also reach his office by calling 559-600-8683.
