The slow vote count has become a 鈥� and a national frustration 鈥� as the state has shifted to overwhelmingly voting by mail.
It鈥檚 the result of the for mail ballots to arrive at local elections offices and the extra verification steps that workers complete before counting those votes. Because of the sheer size of the state, millions of ballots don鈥檛 get counted until weeks after election day.
But what if you want to make sure that yours is among the results rolling in on election night after the polls close? Perhaps you sleep more soundly knowing that you successfully exercised your right to vote, or maybe you want to help shape the early narratives of who鈥檚 up and who鈥檚 down.
Your best bet 鈥� easy, straightforward and cheap 鈥� is to mail back your ballot as soon as possible.
County elections offices in early February, a month before . Those ballots now include prepaid postage, so you don鈥檛 even need a stamp. As long as it is postmarked by March 5, your ballot can arrive up to a week after the election and still be counted.
But if you return it sooner, so that workers receive it by the Friday or Saturday before the primary, your vote is likely to end up in the first batch of results released after the polls close at 8 p.m., according to Assemblymember , who served as the chief elections official of Santa Cruz County for nearly three decades before she was elected to the Legislature in 2022.
鈥淧retty much any ballot we got by Saturday, we would be able to process and get it through all the checks and balances to get into the count on Tuesday night,鈥� said Pellerin, a Santa Cruz Democrat.
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If you鈥檙e holding onto your ballot because you need more time to , consider returning it at an official drop box. You can find the locations on your county elections office鈥檚 website. The boxes are checked every day, Pellerin said, so ballots reach the processing center much quicker than those sent through the mail.
鈥淒rop boxes eliminate that middle person,鈥� she said.
For voters who are away from home around the election, a ballot mailed from anywhere or returned at any drop box in California will eventually make it back to your county elections office.
Now maybe you鈥檙e too busy to vote early, or you worry about a late-breaking scandal, or you just like tradition. Even with the shift to mail ballots, California still requires counties to offer locations to vote in person, both on election day until 8 p.m. and in the 10 days leading up to it. You can also find those on your county elections office鈥檚 website.
Newly this year, because of Pellerin鈥檚 , you can simply bring your completed ballot to a vote center in your county and turn it in, rather than having to fill out a new ballot there.
鈥淵ou can take that very ballot that was mailed to you, voted, walk it in and they鈥檒l transfer you or rekey you in as an in-person voter,鈥� Pellerin said. 鈥淭hat ballot goes right in the ballot box, and will be counted election night.鈥�
If you lose your ballot or mismark it, you can also get a new one at a vote center.
Don鈥檛 forget that, while voters registered with any party can cast a ballot in most primaries in California, the . Only registered Republican voters can participate in the Republican primary, while the Democratic primary is open to independent voters who request the ballot.
If you forgot to do that, you can contact your county elections office and ask for a . These are emailed to you, then must be printed out and returned in the postage paid envelope that came with your mail ballot. Because of another Pellerin bill, , language about how to do that is now included on your ballot.
鈥淲e鈥檙e just trying to remove barriers for voters and make things as easy as possible and improve the voting experience so that everyone who鈥檚 registered votes,鈥� Pellerin said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 my goal.鈥�
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