State lawmakers are hoping that a big investment in county election offices will help reveal results faster this November.
But local registrars warn that expectations of speedy election results in the fall should be cooled.
A lot has been said — and critiqued — about how California conducts its elections, especially when it comes to how long it takes for winners to be declared. In California, every registered voter is mailed a ballot. As long as a voter’s ballot is postmarked on or before Election Day and received by the county elections office within a week of Election Day, it still counts.
But a large swath of voters will often return their ballots on Election Day, causing bottlenecks that delay results.
That’s why, as part of the $350 billion budget deal inked in late June, California lawmakers earmarked $40 million to speed up the process.
That includes a $29 million funding pool for county election offices to hire staff and purchase voting equipment.
An additional $5 million is available for counties to conduct voter outreach and education, in hopes of encouraging people to return their ballots ahead of the Nov. 3 Election Day so they can be tallied earlier.
Another $5 million for voter outreach and education will be sent to the secretary of state’s office and $750,000 will be available for California’s Office of Emergency Services to track misinformation and disinformation ahead of Election Day, according to the budget bill approved by the legislature.
While election advocates have called this a timely investment, Orange County Registrar of Voters Bob Page said expectations should be tempered when it comes to just how helpful this funding will be come November.
Sure, Election Day is about four months away, but Page said there isn’t enough time for county registrars to purchase major voting equipment and have it delivered and installed, which “likely will require facility improvements or new space, and training of staff.”
Election Day isn’t the deadline to implement changes, after all; it’s July 20, so changes can be folded into the training programs that Page’s office administers for Vote Center customer service representatives, he said.
“Counties typically start planning for a statewide election at least six to nine months before Election Day,” Page said.
Michael Sanchez, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office, said any investment in election administration is a positive step. But, he added, the impact of the new state funding will depend on when funds become available
“With the general election only a few months away, implementing major equipment upgrades can be challenging,” Sanchez said.
“That said, Los Angeles County was already evaluating opportunities to enhance its ballot processing operations through additional equipment and operational support. Depending on the timing and flexibility of the funding, these resources could help accelerate or expand those efforts,” Sanchez said.
What’s being doled out by the state is a one-time expenditure, and it’s not clear yet just how much money each county will receive.
Until it’s understood how much each county will receive, the Riverside County Registrar of Voters “cannot determine … how those funds may ultimately be allocated,” said spokesperson Elizabeth Florer.
The same rings true for San Bernardino County, said registrar spokesperson Melissa Eickman.
Once the amount of funding is determined and released, the office “will evaluate the most effective use of those resources to further improve the speed of election results,” Eickman said. “(The office) will evaluate opportunities to implement improvements before the November General Election, where feasible.”
And Page’s team is reviewing options for how to spend Orange County’s share of the $34 million pie in a way that can be sustained in future years, he said.
Still, Sanchez said funding for voter education could have a more immediate impact.
“We have long invested in comprehensive multilingual voter education campaigns that encourage voters to return their ballots early and understand their voting options. Additional resources could help amplify those efforts,” he said.
Eickman, likewise, said any funding designated for voter outreach in San Bernardino County would be used “to enhance existing voter education efforts” and encourage voters to cast their ballots before Election Day.
Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Foundation, a nonpartisan group that works to improve the state’s election process, said state lawmakers made a “substantial commitment” to counties ahead of the 2026 election.
“While the amount budgeted is less than we had recommended, it still represents a sizable investment that prioritizes timely election results,” Alexander said. The organization had pushed lawmakers to include nearly $90 million in the budget to speed up the vote-counting process.
Page said his office has to closely consider how the one-time state funding is used since county general fund revenues sent to his office were cut by 10% heading into this fiscal year.
Already, the Orange County registrar implemented cost-saving measures this year and last, including reducing the number of drive-thru vote centers, suspending a volunteer program that put high school students in service roles at vote centers and cutting hours of those vote centers during the early voting period, Page said.
Despite those cuts, Page said his office was able to administer the June primary smoothly, “with no major lines at any of the 192 Vote Centers we had on Election Day.”
Page said Orange County’s vote-counting process has improved in major elections over recent years.
Page’s office processed more than 95% of accepted ballots within the first week following the primary election in June — and the same was true for the 2024 presidential general election.
That’s one day better than the office’s performance in the 2022 statewide primary and two days better than the 2020 presidential election, he said.
Generally, Los Angeles County hits similar, if not higher, processing rates during major elections despite a much larger voting base, Sanchez said. For the June 2 primary election, the registrar’s office processed close to 98% of ballots within the first week.
Staff writers Jeff Horseman and Linh Tat contributed to this report.