Election 2024: In California, it might take awhile for votes to be tallied. Here’s why

When polling places and voter centers in California close at 8 p.m. following the Nov. 5 General Election, the wait will begin for official results — and it could be a long one.

County elections officials across the state must certify the results of the vote by Dec. 3, 28 days after the election. 10 days later, the California secretary of state will certify the results.

So why does it take so long for California to finalize election results?

Large turnout

The state has more registered voters than any other. But that’s largely because California makes it so easy for citizens to be able to vote.

“In the last three elections, six to eight times more voters voted on the mail-in ballot than in person,” said Stephenie Shea, San Bernardino County’s registrar of voters, ahead of the March 5 primary. “That requires additional time than in-person ballots.”

In the March 5 primary election, 88.64% of California voters voted by mail, according to data from the California secretary of state.

Voting by mail has been popular in California for years. But it got a big shot in the arm with the coronavirus pandemic. To avoid spreading COVID-19 to voters — and poll workers, many of them older volunteers — every registered voter in California was issued a ballot by mail. The practice continues four years later.

Ballots have to be postmarked by election day. It can take time for ballots to arrive by mail, especially when sent by Californians living out of state or overseas, such as military personnel. Ballots postmarked by election day are accepted as late as Nov. 12. The secretary of state recommends military personnel mail their ballots weeks or months in advance.

But most people vote closer to election day. And that creates a bottleneck that slows the count down. According to the secretary of state, vote-by-mail ballots can begin to be processed up to 29 days before election day. But the results cannot be made public until after polls close on election day.

The ballot verification process

Once the ballots arrive, local elections offices have to verify the signatures on the ballots belong to registered voters and that no one is voting twice. If there’s any question, workers contact the registered voters to confirm the ballot was really sent in by the voter. Some of that can be done by computer. But ultimately, a lot of humans are needed. And if there are possible issues at a polling place, humans are required to do hand recounts. That’s a process that can take up to 30 days, according to the secretary of state.

Part of the hold-up could also be due to a new state law – Assembly Bill 3184 –  which was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 22 and amends the California Elections Code to clarify the deadline for voters who need to “cure” their vote-by-mail ballots, typically due to missing or mismatched signatures.

The law creates a certification date for California’s general election results — Dec. 3 — to align with the state’s new regulations, according to the secretary of state’s website. That means the Dec. 3 date is the last day that counties can send a statement of results to secretary of state.

Provisional ballots are issued at polling sites when there’s a question about whether someone can vote at a given location. Those can also take longer to process. And Californians can register to vote on Election Day, which also slows things down.

Angela Rodriguez, at The Sacramento Bee, contributed to this report.