By Megan Garvey and Elly Yu for LAist
Originally published on Nov. 2 and updated on Nov. 3, 2026
Election officials in both Los Angeles and Orange counties report the early vote is trending higher than the last midterm election in 2022 — on trend with expectations across the U.S.
Nationally, Democrats have outpaced Republicans returning ballots by nearly 12 points as of Tuesday morning, according to tracking by the University of Florida Election Lab.
Here’s what you should know about the local vote totals currently released:
- In Los Angeles County, about 39% of registered voters had cast ballot as of Monday.
- In Orange County, the current tally represents about 35% of registered voters.
Keep in mind that Nov. 10 will be the final day for votes postmarked by Nov. 3 to arrive at county elections offices, so the total number of votes cast won’t be known until then.
How vote counts will be released
L.A. County vote tallies
In L.A. County, updates on the counting are expected to continue through Nov. 26.
- Election night: After polls close at 8 p.m., expect updates every 15 minutes or so through the early morning hours Wednesday.
- Nov. 4, 5 and 6: Updates post at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.
- Nov. 7 on: Updates post daily between 4 and 5 p.m.
The county must certify results by Dec. 3.
Orange County vote tallies
In Orange County, updates on the counting are expected to continue through Nov. 26.
- Election night: After the polls close at 8 p.m., expect the release of vote-by-mail ballots at 8:05 p.m., followed by the first in-person tallies at 9:30 p.m. Additional updates through every 30 minutes or so through the evening.
- Post election night: Expect updated counts around 5 p.m. daily.
The county must certify results by Dec. 3.
I thought it was election night?
That hasn’t been true in quite some time. It takes a while to get results because after the initial tallies on election night, there are still many, many votes to count, and more mail-in ballots are usually arriving.
Here’s what we know so far.
L.A. County turnout
Los Angeles County has more than 5.9 million registered voters. As of Tuesday, Nov. 3, prior to the polls opening:
- More than 1.6 million ballots have been processed.
- 85% voted by mail.
- 15% voted in person.
What’s next:
- We’ll know more on election night — and in the following days — about how many ballots remain to be counted.
- Has your ballot been tallied yet? You can track the status of your ballot here.
Observe live counting
Orange County turnout
Orange County has more than 1.9 million registered voters. As of Tuesday morning, Nov. 3, prior to the polls opening:
- 678,456 ballots have been processed.
- 89.3% voted by mail.
- 10.5% voted in person.
How turnout is trending
What’s next:
- We’ll know more on election night — and in the following days — about how many ballots remain to be counted.
- Has your ballot been tallied yet? You can track the status of your ballot here.
Expected total turnout
Political Data Inc. is tracking ballot returns across California and in some high-profile races.
As of Monday, Nov. 2, statewide turnout is 25%. Note: That is already higher than this time in the primary. Democrats outnumber Republicans statewide by almost double, and have returned more ballots so far (3 million compared to 1.6 million — representing 29% and 28% of each party’s registered voters.
Why Election Day has turned into ballot-counting month
Because of the increasing use of vote-by-mail ballots, the tally has gotten longer, according to the California Voter Foundation. In an analysis, the organization found:
- In November 2004, more than 80% of votes were counted within two days of Election Day, with 32.6% voting by mail.
- In June 2022, about 50% of ballots were counted within two days of Election Day, with more than 90% of people voting by mail.
- In November 2024, 66% of votes were counted within the first two days of Election Day, with 81% of the vote by mail.
- In June 2026, 61% of votes were counted within the first two days of Election Day, with 89% of the vote by mail.
Election officials must physically open mail-in ballots and verify signatures.
Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Foundation, recently wrote about the ripple effect of turning in mail-in ballots by hand or in drop boxes on Election Day. She wrote, for our partner newsroom CalMatters:
“We turn in ballots in envelopes on Election Day that take time and care to process and cannot be processed until after Election Day. Processing these ballots — which account for as much as a quarter of all ballots cast — creates a bottleneck I like to call ‘the pig in the python effect.’ It prevents counties from doing other tasks they need to do to certify the results.”
That said, counting has been speeding up considerably. According to Alexander’s organization, the overall share of ballots counted within seven days of the election jumped from 72% in 2022 to 93% in the June primary. L.A. County is moving to around-the-clock counting this cycle, in a move election officials say will help increase voter confidence in the results.
