As of November 5, at 5 PM, the Orange County election center (OC Vote) reported that it has accounted for 891,871 ballots. Approximately 294,700 mail-in ballots and provisional ballots are still pending processing. The total number of registered voters in Orange County stands at 1,916,510, with the counted ballots representing 46.5% of the electorate.
Whether ballots are mailed through the postal service, dropped into secure ballot drop boxes, or handed in at polling centers, as long as they are sealed in an envelope, they are considered mail-in ballots. This method of voting has become the most commonly used practice among voters.
During this midterm election, the Orange County Registrar of Voters (ROV) implemented an “automated signature verification” system for the initial review of signatures on the envelopes of mail-in ballots. The system only accepts results categorized as “high-confidence” matches and does not have the authority to reject any ballots outright. Ballots that achieve a “high-confidence” signature match through the software will be accepted, while those that cannot be matched will undergo manual review by trained staff.
In the first week of utilizing this software, staff members will verify each accepted signature; thereafter, audits will only involve a random sampling of 2%.
According to state law, staff members must look for “similar characteristics” rather than a perfect match when comparing signatures, allowing for subjective interpretation in the verification process. They will also consider possible reasons for discrepancies in signatures, such as health issues or the natural evolution of a person’s signature over time.
If a voter forgets to sign the envelope or if three staff members believe there is a significant difference between the signature and the voter registration record, the election center will send a notification via “first-class mail” to that voter—providing an opportunity to rectify the signature issue. Additionally, they will attempt to contact voters through the phone number or email address they provided.
On election night, before the polls closed at 8 PM, reporters observed about 200 individuals lined up waiting to cast their votes at the Orange County election and ballot center. The last person in line mentioned they had been waiting for approximately one hour. Within the newly expanded polling center, many voters were still completing their ballots, with those taking longer to fill in selections for candidates or propositions.
After 9:30 PM, ballots from various polling centers and drop boxes began to be transported back to the election center via multiple vehicles. However, this election experienced the latest delivery of all ballots compared to the June primary and the previous general election. Ballots from Costa Mesa were not delivered until around 1:50 AM on November 4.
On November 5, the election center conducted a “One Percent Manual Tally” sampling of precincts and will randomly select ballots for a “Risk-Limiting Audit” on November 6. On November 13, manual counting or manual review of the ballots involved in the One Percent Manual Tally will take place. These activities are open to the public, giving residents the chance to participate in rolling dice to randomly select which precincts will be audited.
California law mandates that the Orange County election center will accept mail-in ballots that arrive within seven days after election day, meaning any ballots that arrive by November 10 will be counted.
Staff will carefully check the postmark on the ballots to confirm they were mailed no later than November 3 and will stamp them with a “Received Too Late” notice for additional verification. Any ballots postmarked after election day will remain sealed and will not be counted.
Ballots that meet the postmark requirements will be fed into a mail sorting machine, which captures an image of the voter’s signature and scans the barcode on the envelope, recording the fact that the voter has participated.
According to California election laws, the Orange County election center cannot officially certify the election results before 5 PM on November 25. The Secretary of State’s office will provide final confirmation of the election results by December 11.
However, beginning November 4, the election center will release updated statistical results daily at 5 PM, allowing voters to have a near-certainty about the elected state and local officials, with exceptions for cross-county races such as congressional and state assembly candidates.
The election center indicates that starting from 2024, Orange County’s election and ballot center aims to tally 95% of ballots and publish results within four to eight days following regular election day. The only exception noted was during the 2018 election, where the number of provisional ballots reached as high as 117,188, leading to results being reported only on the 18th day after election day.