2026 California early voting numbers: 6.4 million ballots cast through November 1

Californians had cast 6,406,161 ballots by the end of Sunday, November 1, two days before Election Day, the Secretary of State's ballot return statistics show. That is 27.5% of the 23,273,590 Californians registered to vote as of October 19, by our count against the state's report of registration. The Secretary of State's own percentage, 27.3% statewide, is measured against mail ballots issued rather than registered voters, so county figures in its report run slightly lower than ours.

Almost all of those ballots were mail ballots. Counties had received 6,107,024 of them, and another 299,137 ballots had been cast in person. Of the returned mail ballots, 3,011,396 came back by mail and 2,686,752 through drop boxes, with most of the rest left at drop-off locations and vote centers, the county-level workbook shows.

Polls are open until 8 p.m. on Tuesday, November 3, and a mail ballot postmarked on or before November 3 can still be counted if it arrives by November 10, according to the Secretary of State's key dates page. Our voting master guide covers where and how to vote in every county, and our 2026 California ballot cheat sheet puts every measure and race on one page.

Sierra and Plumas lead California's early vote, and Imperial County trails at 17%:

The two highest return rates are in Sierra and Plumas, two of the four counties the Secretary of State lists as all-mail ballot counties. Sierra County had ballots back from 48.5% of its 2,164 registered voters and Plumas County from 47.6% of its 12,889, by our calculation from the ballot return statistics and the registration report. Foothill and mountain counties follow: Tuolumne at 39.5%, Amador at 39.1%, Nevada at 38.5% and Calaveras at 38.4%. Marin, at 38.0%, leads the Bay Area, ahead of Sonoma at 36.7% and Napa at 33.9%.

At the other end, Imperial County stood at 17.0%. Yuba (19.9%), San Bernardino (20.6%), Tulare (21.0%), San Joaquin (21.4%) and Kern (22.5%) round out the six lowest.

Los Angeles County had the most ballots in hand, 1,394,918, but that is 23.6% of its registered voters, below the state rate. San Diego County stood at 34.2%, Orange County at 31.3% and Riverside County at 25.6%.

Grouped by how counties run their elections, the 30 counties that use vote centers had ballots back from 28.2% of registered voters, the 24 that use polling places from 25.0% and the four all-mail ballot counties from 38.6%, by our calculation. These are ballots counties had logged through Sunday, November 1. They leave out anything returned on Monday, November 2, or on Election Day, as well as mail ballots still in transit, so they describe the pace of returns, not final turnout.

California ballots cast through November 1, 2026, by county:

Ballots cast: Secretary of State, VoteCal Ballot Return Statistics as of November 1, 2026 (mail ballots returned plus ballots cast in person). Registered voters: Secretary of State 15-day Report of Registration, October 19, 2026. Share of registered is our calculation.

California's early vote compared with the June primary and the 2024 general:

The 6.4 million ballots already cast equal about two-thirds of the 9,446,461 ballots cast in the June 2 primary and about 40% of the 16,140,044 cast in the November 2024 general election, according to the Secretary of State's turnout reports for the June 2026 primary and the November 2024 general. Final turnout was 40.80% of registered voters in June and 71.43% in November 2024.

California's count after polls close at 8 p.m.:

Counties begin reporting results after polls close at 8 p.m. Pacific time. Mail ballots postmarked by Election Day can arrive through November 10, and the Secretary of State must certify the results by December 11, according to the state's key dates. Voters whose mail ballot has a missing or mismatched signature have until 5 p.m. on November 25 to fix it, the Secretary of State's election calendar shows. California's count routinely takes weeks, and the voting master guide explains each step.