STOCKTON — The San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters is urging residents to carefully read the insert included with their vote-by-mail ballots before returning them.

Residents have been contacting the Record stating they only placed one stamp on their mail-in ballots and are concerned their votes will not count after reading Tuesday about extra postage required.

There are about 200,000 vote-by-mail voters in San Joaquin County, and the Registrar of Voters placed an insert in vote-by-mail envelopes explaining it will take 68 cents to return the ballots.

The stamp box on the return envelope also contains text suggesting additional postage may be required.

If you have already mailed your ballot with one stamp, it will be delivered to the registrar of voters office, according to the United States Postal Service.

“They’re still getting delivered,” USPS customer relations coordinator Meiko Patton said. “We understand the urgency and will deliver them to the registrars.”

While ballots with one stamp are still being accepted, registrar Austin Erdman said the county has to pay the difference on the postage.

Erdman said his office has received about 2,400 vote-by-mail ballots since distributing them last week, many of which do not have the required postage. He said he is expecting delivery to peak next week.

Some residents may have also received a blue vote-by-mail ballot that states no postage is required.

Erdman said those are ballots for residents who do not have a polling place in their precinct and are required to vote-by-mail.

The last day to register to vote is Oct. 24, and the last day to apply for a vote-by-mail ballot is Nov. 1.

Vote-by-mail ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 8 in order to be counted for the election.

“With all these ballots being mailed already, that tells me that some people are very decided (with whom or what to vote for),” Erdman said. “But there are a lot of people out there that are undecided. With all the people who have registered to vote, it’s so important that they actually cast ballots.”

For questions about your ballot, go to sjcrov.org or call the registrar of voters at (209) 468-2885.

— Contact reporter Wes Bowers at (209) 546-8258 or wbowers@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/bowersblog and on Twitter @WBowersTSR.