Why does it take 30 days for California to certify an election? What to know

Don Sweeney, The Sacramento Bee on Nov 3, 2026

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Tallying votes in the 2026 California general election Nov. 3 could take days — or even weeks.

By state law, county officials have up to 30 days to formally certify election results, the California Secretary of State’s Office said.

The state has in excess of 23 million registered voters — more than any other, according to the Secretary of State.

In an effort to improve California’s speed when it comes to tallying votes, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB-5 on Oct. 3, 2025, which took effect Jan. 1. The law requires “elections officials, on or before the 13th day following an election, to finish counting all ballots, with certain exceptions, including provisional ballots and ballots for which the voter must either verify or provide a signature, and release a vote count for those ballots.”

Yolo County’s top elections official, Jesse Salinas, former president of the California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials, told CalMatters there is a caveat. The ballots that are the exceptions take the most time to count. State law provides a weeks-long window for those questions to be addressed.

“I’m hearing these comments about ‘We should be done by the 13th day,’ — that’s legally not possible by state law,” Salinas told CalMatters.

Once all 58 counties have formally certified their results, the Secretary of State’s Office has 38 days from the election to issue a final statewide certification. For the 2026 general election, that falls on Dec. 11.

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