Counting Votes On Election Day: What To Expect In California

CALIFORNIA — The Golden State will begin counting some 22 million ballots when the polls close at 8 p.m. Tuesday. And despite high anxiety about delayed results this election, Californians are used to the long wait for finalized election results.

County election officials from 58 counties will work through the night collecting, verifying and counting ballots Tuesday. But ballots will continue to funnel in up to 17 days after Election Day this year.

The state will have a good idea of most election results Tuesday night, especially in races with landslide victories. However, many races could take days or weeks to finalize, according to the California Secretary of State, Alex Padilla.

"This is normal," Padilla assured voters in a statement.

And the latest statistics from Padilla's office reveal that there are more registered Golden State voters than any other year in history — about 2.6 million more voters than in the 2016 presidential election and the highest percentage of eligible voters in the past 80 years, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

So, will results be delayed?

Sure, but it's nothing out of the ordinary. The wait is projected to be about the same as years past. Other states may be unfamiliar with this long and drawn out process, but Californians know the drill.

For much of the last decade, the wait for final results has lasted close to a month, with the expansion of absentee voting and the number of ballots cast rising each year.

California is the most populous state, and election workers are tasked with counting more ballots than in any other state. Californians also love to vote by mail, an increasing trend since 2002 when the state allowed any voter to permanently receive their ballot in the mail.

When are vote-by-mail ballots counted?

Normally, election offices accept mail in ballots if they arrive three days after an election day, as long as they're postmarked.

In 2020, legislators extended that delivery time due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"Ballots postmarked on or before Election Day can arrive up until November 20 and still be processed and counted,” Padilla said.

In this election, county officials were also allowed to process vote-by-mail ballots up to 29 days before Election Day, but those votes cannot be shared with the public until the polls close at 8 p.m., Sam Mahood, spokesman for Padilla's office, told Patch.

"Typically counties can’t begin processing vote-by-mail ballots until 10 business days before an election, but urgency legislation allowed them to begin processing ballots earlier this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and increased volume of vote-by-mail ballots," Mahood told Patch.

The Registrar of Voters in Los Angeles County, the state’s most populous county, plans to release a tally of all mail ballots received prior to election day within 30 minutes of polls closing at 8 p.m. Tuesday. Shortly after, the ballots cast at early vote centers will be tallied.

Rhetoric circulating on social media warns voters to cast ballots in person or in a drop box in the days before Election Day instead of mailing them so close to the deadline.

While it is true that ballots are counted on a first cast basis, with in-person votes jumping to the front of the line, ballots that arrive by Nov. 20 and are postmarked by Nov. 3 will be counted.

"If you are still holding your vote-by-mail ballot and want it counted faster, you should drop if off at an official ballot drop box or voting location," Mahood said.

How are votes counted in California?

California counties handle the printing, mailing and counting of ballots, the Secretary of State's office does not process ballots, but it will certify them for final results.

Each county processes ballots differently but state law requires county elections officials to send their first batch of results to Padilla's office no more than two hours after they begin counting votes after 8 p.m. Tuesday.

County officials continue to report results through the night until all precinct vote totals have been accounted for.

And depending on the volume of mail in ballots, it could take up to 30 days for election officials in each county to verify voter records and process each ballot.

"The frequency of updated results will vary based on the size of each county and the process each county elections office uses to tally and report votes," Padilla's office said in a statement.

When will the state be able to officially call races?

County officials have until Dec. 1 to report final results to the Secretary of State's office. The Secretary of State must certify results by Dec. 11, and after that, the Electoral College will convene Dec. 14.

In other words, nothing is set in stone until mid December.