Across the state and in Fresno County, it was a new record for those who voted by mail in the June 3 election.

Statewide, 58.7% voted postally, a number that shattered the old record of 46.9% set in the June 2006 election. In Fresno County, 64.2% of the 108,265 ballots cast went by snail mail -- also a record.

But are these numbers that should go into the record books?

Fresno County Clerk Victor Salazar and Paul Sampietro, Tulare County's election manager, aren't so sure it should, because the low turnout skewed the numbers.

Salazar likened it to a wind-aided world record set by a sprinter in the 100-meter dash.

He said in low-turnout elections, those less likely to vote are the ones who actually go to the polls on Election Day. Those who vote by mail are more likely to vote, whatever the election.

Sampietro agreed, calling the results "kind of a fluke."

In Tulare County, 56% of votes were cast by mail last month. But that wasn't a record, Sampietro said. That came in a small June 2007 special election, when only 1,800 ballots were cast -- 80% by mail.

But Salazar still feels that voting by mail is the wave of the future, and he feels its growing popularity will be shown in the upcoming election.

"November will be a better indicator of how vote-by-mail has become more popular," he said.