Election FAQs

Under no circumstances would San Joaquin County, or any county, have final results on election night. The media sometimes “calls a race” when it appears statistically likely a candidate is going to win an election, but these are informed opinions, not binding law.

California law requires that election officials from each county must certify the official final results within 30 days. The California Secretary of State (SOS) accumulates these certified results to create the certified results for the entire State. This is consistent with the law and there are several good reasons for the delay between the election and the certified count:

1. In most counties there are far too many ballots to count in one night. You can go to the SOS website to monitor the County Reporting Status to see voter turnout in each county. https://electionresults.sos.ca.gov/returns/status.
   
2. San Joaquin County’s “unprocessed ballot report”, also known as the “ballots remaining to be counted report,” provides a raw count of how many ballots are left to count.
3. According to election law, mail in ballots received up to 7 days after the election that have a postmark on or before election day (October 14, 2021) are valid. This helps to account for delays with international or domestic mail service so that military personnel and any citizens working or traveling abroad can participate in the election. This means that not all votes will be available for counting until September 21, 2021.
4. Counting ballots is labor intensive and the cost of equipment and human resources to process everything in one day is not feasible in San Joaquin County or any other county. The ROV’s office is currently verifying and counting anywhere between 6,000 – 15,000 ballots per day. There are some ballots that take more time to validate, including Conditional Voter Registration / Provisional ballots. We are working to accurately verify votes quickly. However, we aren’t going to cut corners and will work methodically to ensure that all eligible votes are counted by October 14, 2021.
5. It takes time to assure that all valid votes are counted – this includes the time required to confirm the signatures for vote-by-mail ballots received, including time to notify a voter if a problem is discovered. This also includes time to duplicate damaged or improperly voted ballots to assure each voter’s intent is honored.

No. California Elections Code specifies the requirements of the tasks of the canvass. The canvass of the votes ensures every eligible ballot is counted and counted accurately. There is a methodical process for meeting those requirements, and that process does not provide for changing procedures mid-stream without following the established code. It would just slow the process down even further.

The ROV is focused on counting all eligible ballots and completing the canvass. The election results will be certified on October 14, 2021.

The ROV does not provide special reports or a breakdown of unprocessed ballots for individual contests or geographical areas. An unprocessed ballot report, also known as “ballots remaining to be counted” is updated on the County website whenever results are updated. The report is a raw count of all ballots countywide and not specific to a district. Results will be reported at 9 p.m. each day until all ballots are verified and counted.

The SOS also has information about the unprocessed ballots for all the counties in California at: https://electionresults.sos.ca.gov/unprocessed-ballots-status.

A “Precinct” describes the geographical location and polling place where you and your neighbors are assigned to vote. When the ballot boxes from all of the precincts are returned and counted on election night, counties will report “100% precincts reported.”

With the popularity of Vote-by-Mail, fewer and fewer ballots are cast at the polls on Election Day. In a traditional election, San Joaquin County reports the results of the early returns of the Vote-by-Mail ballots right after the polls close, before precinct ballots are counted.

The majority of votes cast in the last several elections in San Joaquin County have been cast with mail in ballots. Vote-by-Mail is secure and this is accomplished through checks-and-balances required by Elections Code, voting system use procedures, and statewide best practices and County procedures. Here’s what happens when your Vote-by-Mail ballot arrives:

1. The envelope is scanned and a picture of your signature on the envelope is captured. Every signature is then compared with the signature that is on file from when you last registered. If there is any question about the signature match, the ballot is “challenged” and the signatures are reviewed by a supervisor. The supervisor is able to compare your signature to your previous Vote-by-Mail envelopes or other documents you have sent to the Registrar of Voters. If the supervisor agrees that the signature does not match, a letter is sent to the voter to give them an opportunity to resolve the problem. These are called “cure” letters. Cure letters are also sent to voters who forgot to sign their envelope.
2. Vote-by-Mail envelopes that are not challenged are considered “good”. The envelopes are sorted into precinct order, then opened by a machine and the ballots inside are removed. As soon as the ballot is removed, it is separated from the empty envelope, and the ballot is no longer traceable back to the voter.
3. All ballots are visually inspected and duplicated if necessary, by hand by Registrar of Voters staff to validate that:
   1. There is no information identifying the voter on the ballot If a voter signs his or her name or writes down identifying information, the votes will be counted, but they will need to be duplicated onto a fresh ballot to maintain the voter’s privacy.
   2. There is nothing on the ballot that might interfere with machine processing. Ballots with foreign substances such as white-out, fluids and staples can damage the equipment.
   3. The ballot is not damaged. Not only does this include, tears and crumbled corners, but it also includes damage to the barcodes on the side of the ballot. The barcodes indicate to the voting system the precinct, ballot type and language of the ballot. A stray pen mark or tear would make the ballot unreadable. The barcodes are not specific to a particular voter; there is no voter information in the barcode.
   4. The ballot is filled out correctly. Ballots are counted by a high-speed machine that looks in the rectangle for marks indicating the voter’s intent. Ballots with rectangles completely filled in with black or dark blue ink are fine. Voters who put check marks or Xs into the rectangle might have their votes missed by the machine. Voters who misunderstood or did not follow the instructions to completely fill in the rectangle have their ballots duplicated to assure that they are counted.
   5. The ballot is flat. Creases and folds are flattened for Vote-by-mail ballots or ballots that were folded by the voter at the voting location.
4. Finally, once ballots have passed inspection, they are batched using scales certified by the County Office of Weights and Measures and scanned by a high-speed machine that counts votes.

You can register to vote and vote if you are:

• A United States citizen and a resident of California,
• 18 years old or older on Election Day,
• Not currently serving a state or federal prison term for the conviction of a felony, and
• Not currently found mentally incompetent to vote by a court.

Early voting began on August 16, 2021 at the Registrar of Voters office. Registered voters can also cast their ballots by mail or at an official drop box location or at a Polling Place located throughout the County. The Registrar of Voters main office Polling Places will be open 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM on Election Day.

Drop Box Information

The first election night results will be posted on our website at 8:30 PM for all vote-by-mail ballots received and processed up to that point. Polling Place ballots will be reported at 9 PM and Election Day ballots will be reported starting at 10 PM and continuing every hour after that until all ballots issued on Election Day are tabulated.

• The last day to vote is Tuesday, September 14, 2021 at 8 PM Voters who are in line at a Polling Place before 8 PM will be allowed to cast their ballots. Voters who are in line at an Official Ballot Drop Box or Drive-through Drop-off location before 8 PM will be allowed to turn in their ballots.
• All ballots postmarked on or before September 14, 2021 and received within 17 days of Election Day will be counted.