Election Day is here, and shortly after polls close at 8 p.m. Tuesday, county elections officials will start reporting results. But those initial tallies will only be a piece of the total votes cast.
That’s because Californians tend to put their ballots in the mail on Election Day — or right before it. County registrar’s offices are expecting to receive a deluge of ballots on Tuesday and in the days after, which won’t be included in the earliest vote tallies. As of Monday morning, slightly more than a third of the mail-in ballots sent out to registered Californians had been returned and accepted by election officials, according to the California Secretary of State’s Office. Bay Area registrars expect turnout to eclipse 80%.
The upshot: A clear picture may not emerge for some races for several days, potentially delaying results in close California races for Congress and propositions on rent control and the minimum wage.
“By the end of the week, you’ll have a very good idea of where we’re at,” said San Mateo County Assistant Chief Elections Officer Jim Irizarry.
In Santa Clara County, elections staff expect a whopping half of its 1.06 million voters to turn out on Election Day, said registrar’s office spokesman Steve Goltiao. As of Monday morning, almost 40% of voters had cast their ballots. The office expects about 85% of registered voters in the county to participate in the election.
Elections officials in San Mateo, Alameda and Contra Costa counties also expect to receive the bulk of ballots after Monday night.
Vote by mail ballots take longer to process. Mailed ballots must be sorted, verified and removed by hand from their envelopes before they are run through ballot tabulation machines.
When they begin tallying votes, elections staffers start with mailed ballots that they received before Election Day. These votes will be included in the first tallies released shortly after 8 p.m. on Tuesday.
In Contra Costa County, the registrar’s first count Tuesday will probably include half of votes cast, said spokesperson Helen Nolan.
After that, registrar’s offices tally votes cast in person at official voting centers. This is an option for people who prefer to vote at a polling location or who need to register and vote conditionally on the same day. These votes will be tallied and released through the early morning in some counties. Others, such as San Mateo County, plan to report these votes before midnight.
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After that’s completed, election officials will process and report the remaining mailed-in ballots. That will likely take days. In San Mateo County, officials won’t receive most mailed ballots until Thursday or Friday, Irizarry said.
The deadline to vote is 8 p.m. on Tuesday. If you’re planning to mail your completed ballot on Tuesday, double-check that your post office mailbox has not already been collected for the day. If it was, your vote may not be postmarked by 8 p.m. on Election Day and will not count.
If you’re voting in person at a voting center, make sure you’re standing in line by 8 p.m. That’s when elections staff close the line, but those who are already queued won’t be turned away.