Alameda County elections: What happens next?
Your top Alameda County election questions answered. Did we miss something? Let us know.
With Election Day behind us, there's still a long way to go before it's over. We've pulled together answers to the most common questions people have been asking.
How many Alameda County ballots still need to be counted?
No one knows for sure but officials are expecting a turnout rate of about 80%, in line with the 2020 election. Alameda County has about 960,000 registered voters, which means there may be around 770,000 ballots in the end.
How many ballots have been counted and where did they come from?
The election night results include mail-in ballots that were received by the end of last week along with in-person ballots cast Tuesday.
By the end of the night, Alameda County had tallied about 230,000 ballots — meaning there could still be around 540,000 ballots to count.
How many Alameda County ballots have been received?
About 400,000 mail-in ballots had been received as of Election Day.
Why haven't all those ballots been counted?
The county tallied as many ballots as it could through the end of last week before turning to preparations for Election Day.
What's the deadline for receiving ballots?
Alameda County will accept ballots postmarked by Election Day as long as they are received by next Tuesday.
Emilie Raguso
What's the status of my ballot?
You can check your ballot status online via ballottrax or on the Alameda County registrar of voters website. On the county site, log in and click the Election tab to find your ballot status.
How long will it take to count Alameda County ballots?
Tim Dupuis, Alameda County registrar of voters, said it may take up to two weeks to get through most of the ballots. "We're all about getting the votes counted as efficiently as we can," he said Wednesday.
If so many ballots are still out there, why do the results say 100% of the precincts have reported?
The 100% notice is essentially meaningless as far as overall results and simply indicates that a precinct has been counted. As of Tuesday night, about 70,000 in-person ballots had been cast compared to the 700,000 or so expected by mail. The precinct results do not reflect mail-in ballots.
Is it safe to call any of the races yet?
Dupuis said it's tough to draw conclusions with more than 500,000 ballots still expected to be counted. In some races, early results are predictive but that's not always true.
Why does it take so long to count the ballots?
Dupuis said the county has to check signatures on all the mail-in ballots and then open them and extract the information. He asked voters "to be patient with the results."
How many ballots are left in Berkeley?
The ROV has tallied around 18,000 Berkeley ballots. In 2020, Berkeley voters cast around 60,000 ballots, which leaves around 40,000 still to count if the past is any indication.
How does Alameda County's tally compare to other counties?
The Secretary of State publishes a list of unofficial election results.
When will new Alameda County election results come out?
Alameda County plans to post updates at the end of the day Thursday and Friday.
Historically, there are no results posted on the Wednesday after Election Day. That's true this year, too, the ROV said.
As for next week, Monday is a holiday and the ROV hasn't decided if new results will be published. The schedule for subsequent updates will be posted on the county website.
Dupuis said the general plan is a single end-of-day update any day results are released.
Aside from reading The Scanner, how will I know when Alameda County election results are updated?
Sign up for alerts from the Alameda County registrar of voters for election results as they happen. Get alerts by email, text or both.
What are the latest Alameda County election results?
The Scanner is keeping Alameda County election results updated for many key races as new numbers come in.
Editor’s desk
See full results from Alameda County and the Secretary of State.
When will election results be certified?
Alameda County has until Dec. 5 to certify the election results. Dupuis noted that Thanksgiving is coming, which helps motivate election staffers to get through the count efficiently so they can spend the holiday with family.
Have more election questions? Let us know in the comments or drop us a note.
