San Rafael, CA – Voters in Marin County are eager to receive final results from the June 7 Statewide Direct Primary Election, and staff from the Marin County Elections Department is equally eager to deliver those totals.
Although the vote tally was updated online at 1 p.m. Friday, June 10, Registrar of Voters Lynda Roberts said it might be another 10 days before all ballots are recorded and certified. Approximately 75% of Marin’s registered voters regularly choose to vote by mail, however many dropped off those ballots on Election Day.
Approximately 32,000 local votes were tallied on the night of June 7, with about 10,000 more included in the June 10 tally. Roberts said Friday that 39,000 vote-by-mail ballots and 140 provisional ballots remained to be tallied.
“At this point it’s too early to predict the turnout because we continue to receive ballots daily that need to go through the process,” Roberts said. “Results should become clearer by the end of next week after the deluge of vote-by-mail ballots received on Election Day is opened, processed, and counted.”
Updated vote tallies will be placed onto www.marinvotes.org each Wednesday and Friday until the election is declared completed. By law, the elections team has until July 7 to certify and report final election results to the Secretary of State. The election won’t be ratified by the Marin County Board of Supervisors until its July 19 meeting.
“The team is doing a great job sorting, verifying signatures, and removing ballots from envelopes,” Roberts said, “and we’ll have many more ballots to count next week.”
All ballots ready for counting, including vote-by-mail and early voting ballots – as well as those who voted at the County’s 20 vote centers – had been tabulated on election night. By law, mailed ballots may be tallied up to seven days after an election as long as they are postmarked by Election Day.
Starting with this election, the County implemented the Voter’s Choice Act that replaced about 90 one-day polling places with 20 multi-day vote centers open up to 11 days for some and at least four days for all 20. In addition, all registered voters were mailed a ballot 29 days prior to the election. The change expanded services and gave voters more options and flexibility, though most still drop off their vote-by-mail ballots on or near Election Day. Approximately 3,200 people voted at vote centers.
In preparing for this new model, the Elections Department conducted a series of public meetings last fall to review the required election administration plan and receive public comment. The draft plan and final plan were then posted online.
The department also launched a robust outreach campaign that included a virtual kick-off event hosted by the Secretary of State’s office, two direct mailers to each registered voter, several community workshops, and many other efforts to prepare the voters for the change. All information about the change was posted on the department’s website after the Board of Supervisors approved the plan in May 2021.
In addition, information about locations of vote centers and ballot drop boxes was included in the Voter Information Guide mailed to every registered voter at the end of April, as well as being posted online a month before the election.
Additional information about election result reporting and processing vote-by-mail and provisional ballots can be found on the California Secretary of State’s website.