Voting in SLO County? Here’s what we will know — and won’t know — on election night
California voters have until 8 p.m. on Election Day — Tuesday, Nov. 5 — to cast their votes in the 2024 general election.
The San Luis Obispo County election’s office has already begun counting ballots ahead of Election Day.
When will election results be released?
How soon after Election Day will voters know who won local races and which measures passed?
The Tribune turned to San Luis Obispo County’s top election official to find out when election results will be available to the public.
Here’s a look at what we’ll know and when:
How many people have voted in SLO County so far?
San Luis Obispo County has around 183,000 registered voters, according to Elaina Cano, San Luis Obispo County clerk-recorder and registrar of voters.
As of Thursday afternoon, the county election’s office had already scanned about 75,000 ballots, according to Erin Clausen, public information officer for the Clerk-Recorder’s Office.
This represents about 41% of registered voters in SLO County, Caulsen said, adding that many more ballots are rolling in daily.
“I will say San Luis Obispo County has had a phenomenal return right now,” Cano said.
When do polls close in SLO County?
Vote centers in San Luis Obispo County will be open until 8 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5.
You can vote in person or take your mail-in ballot to any poll place, drop-off location or designated drop box in the state before 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Mailed ballots must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by a county elections office no later than seven days after Election Day — Tuesday, Nov. 12, according to the California Secretary of State.
When will election results start being released?
Election results will begin being released at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 5, Cano said.
However, those results will not be certified until 28 days after the election, on Dec. 3.
According to California law, the SLO County Clerk-Recorder’s office must deliver ballot returns from polling places every two hours on election night.
She said the final results of the evening will be released between midnight on Tuesday and 2 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 6.
This means that if you vote in person on Election Day, your vote will be counted that night.
“The only counts we are doing on election night are for those people that actually vote a precinct ballot on election day,” Cano said.
If you have already sent it in your mail-in ballot and it arrives at the SLO County Clerk-Recorder’s Office by 1 p.m. Saturday, it will be tallied and counted among the first results released at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Cano said it is her goal to have all mail-in ballots received by midday on Saturday Nov. 2 tallied and included in initial election results.
If someone drops off a mail-in ballot at a polling place on Election Day, Cano, it will not be counted immediately.
Instead, that ballot will be tallied in the days following the election.
How long will it take to count every vote?
The county must send presidential election results by Dec. 3, according to the California Secretary of State’s Office.
Cano said she plans to have every vote counted and every race certified by that date, even though county elections officials have until Dec. 5 to certify election results.
She urged all eligible voters in the county to return their ballots ahead of the Tuesday, Nov. 5, deadline.
“The more that come in now, the faster it’ll be for me to wrap it up,” she said.
