BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) -- Nearly two weeks after Election Day, Kern Elections said more than 9,000 ballots still must be processed. About a third of those ballots must be "cured." Curing a ballot means fixing it because there was an issue with a voter's signature on their initial ballot. Those voters have until Sunday, Dec. 1, to correct their signatures and ensure their vote counts. "A letter in the mail, with a prepaid postage return envelope. And they've also been notified by phone," explained Kern Elections Public Information Officer Adam Clark. Kern Elections said about 5,600 cure letters were sent out, and a little over 2,000 ballots are still uncured. David Valadao reelected to California’s 22nd Congressional district seat: AP projection "But they cannot change their votes," Clark said of the correction process. "[Voters are] actually just curing their ballot, which means their signature didn't align with the signature that we have on file. And so, we notify them asking them to correct their signature." These ballots are fixed -- or "cured" -- and voters cannot change their vote. It's all about the signatures. "I always tell people to look at the signature on their ID or driver's license because most likely that's the one we have on file," Clark said. "So, they can fill that out on the form and then send that back to us." Ballot curing can be win-or-lose for campaigns. Some campaigns, like Rudy Salas for Congress and Leticia Perez for Supervisor, continued to door knock days after the election. Each cured ballot is an additional vote, which is why, as Christian Romo with the Perez campaign told 17 News, campaigns seize this last-minute chance to close the gap in tight races. Perez's 5th District Supervisors race is one of the closest Kern races -- challenger Kim Salas leads by just 27 votes. Campaigns often obtain the list of voters who received cure letters, which elections officials said can be purchased. "The list just includes the remaining to be cured," Clark said. "If people have already cured, they fall off that list." Kern Elections also said results will be updated until election certification, which is the first week of December.As for overall voter turnout? "I think it is lower than we anticipated," stated Clark. "It will probably end up being around 65%." If you don't check for a cure letter, you may not even know your vote was not counted. So be on the lookout, track your ballot.