Polls opened across California at 7 a.m. Tuesday for the 2020 presidential election, and they will remain open until 8 p.m.
Voters can drop their mail-in ballots at any polling place. This year, ballots will be counted even if they are received at county election offices up to 17 days after Election Day, but they must be postmarked Tuesday or put in a drop box by 8 p.m. Tuesday.
All voting locations in five Southern California counties have been open since Saturday.
Some locations were open earlier, particularly in Los Angeles County, which opened more than 100 vote centers Oct. 24, then added nearly 650 more on Friday.
Now all five counties have locations ready to welcome voters. The voting spots are open through Election Day, and a searchable list is below.
Voters registered in L.A., Orange, Riverside and Ventura counties can cast a ballot at any open location. In San Bernardino County, voters must go to their assigned polling place starting Saturday, as the county’s early vote sites closed Friday.
At these voting locations, voters can:
- cast their votes in person at a voting booth
- drop off their completed mail ballot
- register to vote and cast a provisional ballot
If you have a question on voting, you can contact the state’s voter hotline at 800-345-8683.
The California Secretary of State’s Office says it is monitoring for any incidents at the polls that might prevent voters from casting a ballot. Contact VoteSure@sos.ca.gov if you see such an incident.
The coronavirus pandemic has transformed Election Day into election month for many places in California after the state mailed ballots to all active registered voters for the first time, encouraging them to vote early and skip in-person polling places to avoid spreading the virus.
As of Monday, Californians had returned more than 11.8 million ballots, by mail and in person — that’s some 56% of the more than 21 million ballots issued.
More than 22 million Californians registered for the election by Oct. 15, nearly 88% of those eligible in the state, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. Of the registered voters, about 46% are Democrats, while 24% are Republicans, and another 24% have declared no party preference.
Californians are expected to deliver a strong rebuke of Donald Trump’s presidency while weighing in on a dozen statewide ballot measures that could overhaul property tax formulas, overturn a prohibition on affirmative action and redefine the billion-dollar business models of ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft.
Democrat Joe Biden and his running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, are expected to continue Democrats’ winning streak in the Golden State and take its bounty of 55 electoral votes.
Democrats have won California in every presidential election since Bill Clinton in 1992, and 2020 marks the first time a California Democrat has been on the national ticket.
California Republicans are focusing their efforts on reclaiming some U.S. House seats after a string of losses two years ago. That included four districts that contain either all or parts of Orange County, a one-time Republican stronghold. Republicans now hold just seven of the state’s 53 House seats.
