Election Day is finally here.
The loud TV commercials, colorful fliers stuffed in your mailboxes, oodles of text messages — all begging for money and volunteers and votes — have culminated in this, the final day for voters to cast their ballot.
That means, if you haven’t already voted, today’s the day to do so.
And there are multiple ways to vote in Orange County. You can either return the ballot you received in the mail through the U.S. Postal Sevice (no postage is required, but ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 5 and received by your county elections office within seven days after Election Day), or you can place it in one of many ballot drop boxes scattered around the county. These are bright yellow, secured, bins located at transit centers, parks, community centers, churches and more.
You can also visit one of the vote centers around Orange County, where you can drop off your ballot, pick up a new one and find other election-related assistance.
Just make sure, if you’re submitting a mail ballot, to sign that envelope.
Ballot drop boxes and vote centers are open until 8 p.m. today.
And remember: If you’re still in line at your polling place to vote when the clock strikes 8 p.m., you’re allowed to vote. Poll workers are instructed, per the secretary of state, to prohibit anyone who arrived after 8 p.m. from voting, but people who are still in line are still allowed to cast their ballot.
Find the nearest vote center or drop box to you by checking out our Voter Guide at ocregister.com/voter-guide — where you can also find information about the candidates and propositions on your ballot — or by visiting the Orange County Registrar of Voters’ website at ocvote.com/voting.
As of Monday’s tally, more than 697,000 vote-by-mail ballots had already been returned in Orange County. Nearly 1.98 million ballots were sent to registered voters in the county.
So when do we know who won?
There’s a chance we may not know the winners of every race, especially the presidential contest and more closely watched congressional races, right away tonight.
Counting all the ballots can take time. Some battleground states took multiple days in 2020 to determine a clear winner in the presidential race then, and elections analysts are warning the same could be the case this year as well.
Still, county elections officials and California’s secretary of state will release vote tallies throughout tonight — and in the coming days until every vote is tallied.
The Register, at ocregister.com, will provide regular, live updates online along with reactions from candidates and experts.
In Orange County, the registrar plans to release unofficial vote-by-mail results at 8:05 p.m. followed by the first unofficial in-person voting results tally at 9:30 p.m. The next batch of unofficial in-person voting results will come in at 10 p.m., again at 11 p.m., and then at 11:30 p.m.
That 11:30 p.m. drop is tentatively the last results you can expect from the county tonight, but updates will continue until all vote centers have reported, according to the registrar.
Updates will then continue to be posted daily at 5 p.m. throughout the canvass period until the last official results are posted, the registrar said.
The secretary of state will start to post results at 8 p.m., when the polls close, and will continue to post updates throughout the night at electionresults.sos.ca.gov. It, too, will post daily updates at 5 p.m. in the days after the election. Official certified results will be posted by Dec. 13, according to the secretary of state.
There’s also a new state law in play in California this year, meant to give voters more time to fix their ballot if there’s a missing or mismatched signature, which could also delay official results.
Signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September, the new law sets a statewide ballot signature challenge cure deadline. In other words, it gives voters in the 2024 general election until 5 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 1 (26 days after Election Day) to resolve signature issues with their ballot. And that means county elections officials cannot certify the results until Tuesday, Dec. 3.
In years past, county elections officials may not have needed the full 28 days to contact voters with signature issues and certify elections.
In Orange County, for example, the registrar of voters was able to complete its canvass of the March primary 17 days after Election Day. In the 2022 general election, it was able to do so 23 days after Election Day.
One last thing to remember on this election day: There are several rights voters have, as laid out by the secretary of state’s office. If you’re a registered voter but your name is not on the list, you can still cast a provisional ballot. You can get a new ballot if you’ve made a mistake and have not already submitted it. You can ask, without being disruptive, election officials questions.
More information can be found about those rights on the secretary of state’s website.
To report potential election fraud or misconduct, or if you believe you’ve been denied any of those rights, you can contact the secretary of state’s hotline at 800-345-8683. You can also report suspicious behavior or electioneering to the Orange County Registrar of Voters at ocvoter@ocvote.gov or 714-567-7600.
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