With five days to go before Election Day, about 5.09 million Californians had already cast ballots, according to the Secretary of State’s ballot return report as of Thursday, Oct. 29. That is about 21.7% of the state’s 23.45 million registered voters.

Bay Area counties

Total ballots cast and share of registered voters, as of Oct. 29:

  • Marin: 57,922 (32.97%)
  • Sonoma: 101,285 (31.37%)
  • Napa: 23,954 (27.48%)
  • Contra Costa: 184,861 (25.06%)
  • San Mateo: 113,473 (25.06%)
  • Santa Cruz: 43,762 (24.95%)
  • Santa Clara: 239,266 (22.01%)
  • Alameda: 211,915 (21.37%)
  • Solano: 55,849 (19.92%)
  • San Francisco: 105,943 (19.53%)

Santa Clara and Alameda have the most ballots in raw numbers, but Marin and Sonoma are well ahead as a share of voters. Most ballots so far are mail ballots. San Francisco, Contra Costa and Solano are listed as polling-place counties, while the others use vote centers.

What the trend suggests

Paul Mitchell of Political Data told the San Francisco Chronicle that California is on pace for about 60% turnout, which he said would be the most ballots ever cast in a California governor’s race. A Political Data tracker showed 16% of registered voters had returned ballots through Wednesday, compared with 14% at the same point in the 2022 midterm. Latino voters had returned 10%, up from 7% four years ago. (That tracker’s figure differs from the state report because it uses a different count and date.)

Not everyone is confident. State Treasurer Fiona Ma noted that only 40% of registered voters cast ballots in the June primary. The Chronicle also noted that voters face 14 statewide measures this year, which can be daunting for infrequent voters. For earlier local numbers, see our Alameda County returns report.

How to vote

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Polls and vote centers close at 8 p.m., and mailed ballots must be postmarked by Election Day and arrive within seven days. You can check your registration and ballot status at sos.ca.gov/elections. California lets you register and vote the same day at a vote center.