June 16, 2016

Vote Count Update

California’s county elections officials have processed and counted 7.29 million ballots from the June 7, 2016 Presidential Primary Election. County elections officials estimate approximately 1.37 million additional unprocessed ballots remain.

Click here for the Unprocessed Ballots Report

Click here for the reporting status from each county

NOTE: The Secretary of State’s office does not issue, receive, or count ballots. Elections officials in each of California’s 58 counties process and count ballots, and transmit results to the Secretary of State’s office. The Secretary of State’s office compiles all of these results in the official Statement of Vote.

“County elections officials are hard at work processing and counting ballots from the June 7 Presidential Primary Election,” Secretary of State Alex Padilla said. “Voting by mail has increased significantly in recent years and while most vote-by-mail ballots arrive on or before Election Day, many arrive after. State law as of 2014 requires that vote-by-mail ballots postmarked on or before Election Day and received by county elections officials no later than 3 days after Election Day must be processed. County elections officials must also verify the registration status of the voter for every provisional ballot cast at the polls.”

“Ensuring the integrity of the vote count is critical to our democracy. State law gives county elections officials up to 30 days after Election Day to complete vote counting, auditing, and certification. In California, we work to ensure every ballot is counted properly and every ballot is accounted for,” Padilla added.

Provisional Ballots

In California, provisional ballots serve as a fail-safe method of ensuring all voters who show up to the polls can cast a ballot.

All provisional ballots are carefully checked by county elections officials to confirm that the person who voted provisionally is both registered and that they did not cast a ballot by mail or at another polling location on Election Day.   

Canvass Deadlines

County elections officials have up to 30 days after Election Day to complete their extensive tallying, auditing, and certification work (known as the "official canvass"). The frequency of updated results varies by county.

County elections officials must report their final results of the presidential primary contests to the Secretary of State by July 5, 2016, and of all other offices by July 8, 2016.

The Secretary of State will compile the results of the presidential primary contests by July 9, 2016, and will certify the results of all other offices by July 15, 2016.

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June 23, 2016

Vote Count Update

California’s county elections officials have processed and counted approximately 7.9 million ballots from the June 7, 2016 Presidential Primary Election. County elections officials estimate approximately 665,000 additional unprocessed ballots remain.

Click here for the Unprocessed Ballots Report

Click here for the reporting status from each county

NOTE: The Secretary of State’s office does not issue, receive, or count ballots. Elections officials in each of California’s 58 counties process and count ballots, and transmit results to the Secretary of State’s office. The Secretary of State’s office compiles all of these results in the official Statement of Vote.

“Elections officials are working hard to ensure that every ballot is properly counted,” Secretary of State Alex Padilla said. “Voting by mail has increased significantly in recent years, and many vote-by-mail ballots arrive on or after Election Day. Vote-by-mail ballots postmarked on or before Election Day and received by county elections officials no later than 3 days after Election Day must be processed. County elections officials are also responsible for hand checking and counting provisional ballots. These ballots may take longer to process, but ensure that more Californians have their votes counted.”

“Ensuring the integrity of the vote and accounting for every ballot is a critical job. State law gives county elections officials up to 30 days after Election Day to complete vote counting, auditing, and certification. It is important that county elections officials take the time to get this right,” Padilla added.

Provisional Ballots

In California, provisional ballots serve as a fail-safe method of ensuring all voters who show up to the polls can cast a ballot.

All provisional ballots are carefully checked by county elections officials to confirm that the person who voted provisionally is both registered and that they did not cast a ballot by mail or at another polling location on Election Day.  

Canvass Deadlines

County elections officials have up to 30 days after Election Day to complete their extensive tallying, auditing, and certification work (known as the "official canvass"). The frequency of updated results varies by county.

County elections officials must report their final results of the presidential primary contests to the Secretary of State by July 5, 2016, and of all other offices by July 8, 2016.

The Secretary of State will compile the results of the presidential primary contests by July 9, 2016, and will certify the results of all other offices by July 15, 2016.

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June 30, 2016

Vote Count Update

California’s county elections officials have processed and counted approximately 8.28 million ballots from the June 7, 2016 Presidential Primary Election. County elections officials estimate only approximately 350,000 additional unprocessed ballots remain.

Click here for the Unprocessed Ballots Report

Click here for the reporting status from each county

NOTE: The Secretary of State’s office does not issue, receive, or count ballots. Elections officials in each of California’s 58 counties process and count ballots, and transmit results to the Secretary of State’s office. The Secretary of State’s office compiles all of these results in the official Statement of Vote.

“We are in the final stretch of the vote counting process, as county elections officials complete their extensive tallying, auditing, and certification work.” Secretary of State Alex Padilla said. “Voting by mail has increased significantly in recent years, and many vote-by-mail ballots now arrive on or after Election Day. County elections officials are also responsible for hand checking and counting provisional ballots. This process takes time to ensure that we don’t disenfranchise voters.”

“State law gives county elections officials up to 30 days after Election Day to complete the official canvass of the vote. County elections officials take the time to account for every ballot and ensure the integrity of the vote. It is important that elections officials get it right,” Padilla added.

Canvass Deadlines

County elections officials have up to 30 days after Election Day to complete their extensive tallying, auditing, and certification work (known as the "official canvass"). The frequency of updated results varies by county.

County elections officials must report their final results of the presidential primary contests to the Secretary of State by July 5, 2016, and of all other offices by July 8, 2016.

The Secretary of State will compile the results of the presidential primary contests by July 9, 2016, and will certify the results of all other offices by July 15, 2016.

Vote-by-Mail Ballots

A state law passed in 2014 requires that vote-by-mail ballots postmarked on or before Election Day and received by county elections officials no later than 3 days after Election Day must be processed.

Provisional Ballots

In California, provisional ballots serve as a fail-safe method of ensuring all voters who show up to the polls can cast a ballot.

All provisional ballots are carefully checked by county elections officials to confirm that the person who voted provisionally is both registered and that they did not cast a ballot by mail or at another polling location on Election Day.  

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July 15, 2016

Secretary of State Padilla Certifies Election Results

Today Secretary of State Alex Padilla certified California’s June statewide primary results. 47.72% of registered voters cast a ballot in California’s June 7, 2016 Presidential Primary Election, this is the third highest turnout of registered voters for a statewide primary election in the past 25 years.

“Over 8.5 million Californians cast votes in the June Primary—the second highest total ever in a California statewide primary election, only behind the hotly contested 2008 Presidential Primary,” Secretary of State Alex Padilla said. “Voting by mail also continues to be popular. This was the fifth straight statewide election in which a majority of ballots cast were vote-by-mail ballots.”  

Key statistics from the June 7, 2016 Presidential Primary Election:

8,548,301 total votes cast.
47.72% turnout of registered voters.
58.92%  of ballots cast were vote-by-mail ballots
The certified June 2016 election results, including county-by-county data and historical statistics on voter turnout, are available online: http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/prior-elections/statewide-election-results/presidential-primary-election-june-7-2016/

Voting-by-Mail

This was the first statewide election in which vote-by-mail ballots postmarked on or before Election Day and received by county elections officials no later than 3 days after Election Day had to be processed.

Official Canvass

State law provided county elections officials up to 30 days after Election Day to complete their extensive tallying, auditing, and certification work (known as the “official canvass”).

 NOTE: The Secretary of State’s office does not issue, receive, or count ballots. State law requires elections officials in each of California’s 58 counties to process and count ballots, and transmit results to the Secretary of State’s office. The Secretary of State’s office compiles all of these results in the official Statement of Vote.  

“2016 continues to be an important election year,” Padilla added. “In November, Californians will vote on candidates and measures that will impact the future of our nation, state, and communities. Whether or not you cast a ballot in June—make sure your voter registration is up-to-date for November. It only takes minutes to register to vote or update your registration, just visit RegisterToVote.ca.gov”


Election Justice USA·
Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Citizens’ Oversight and Election Justice USA File Lawsuit to Stop the Certification of California’s Primary Results

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - June 29th, 2016: Attorney Bill Simpich of Election Justice USA, with plaintiff Citizens Oversight under the direction of Ray Lutz, filed a complaint for injunctive and declaratory relief against the state of California intended to stop the certification of the June 7, 2016 Presidential primary results. The defendants in the case are Alex Padilla, Secretary of State of the State of California; Michael Vu, San Diego County Registrar of Voters; Helen N. Robbins-Meyer, San Diego County Chief Administrative Officer; and San Diego County, a municipality.

The filing indicates several issues with the large number of vote-by-mail (VBM) and provisional ballots and cites the Registrar of Voters office’s failure to adhere to the Voter Bill of Rights (Elections Code Section 2300), which protects citizens’ rights to proper observation of all aspects of the voting process, as well as ballot counting procedures.

The primary cause of action is based on the violation of the right to vote. The intent of the voter was compromised when voters were not given proper ballots by which to exercise intent. Because of this, high numbers of write-in and provisional ballots have been removed from the counting process. In addition, the plaintiff alleges that the ballots cast for the Democratic presidential candidates have not been fully counted by either Defendant Vu or the county registrars.

The suit seeks to stop the certification of the results. The election code states that a 1% manual tally must be performed in two parts: one including 1% of all ballots cast at precincts (including provisional ballots and ballots removed) and one including 1% of all VBM ballots cast (including the VBM ballots already processed as well as those still in the queue to be processed). The filing states the registrar’s refusal to allow observation of the ballot handling process was widespread and seeks relief until these deficiencies are fully addressed.

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About Election Justice USA: Election Justice USA (EJUSA) is a national coalition of seasoned election integrity experts, statisticians, attorneys, journalists, and activists whose mission is to ensure each vote is counted accurately within the electoral processes of the United States. The organization strives to educate and mobilize the voting public; collect and analyze individual testimonies, physical evidence, and voting statistics; file cases in state and federal court; and lead the movement for election reform. The 2016 Presidential primaries’ most prominent issues include: voter suppression, registration tampering, mass voter purging, vote by mail (VBM) and other ballot issues, poll closings, and inaccurate electronic voting machine (EVM) counts. In cooperation with like-minded organizations such as TrustVote.org and DemocracyCounts.org, EJUSA is forming a broad coalition to bring awareness, foster activism and oversight, and spearhead reform efforts while fighting the necessary battles in the courtroom.