Election Corner: All About Election Day!
Election Day is finally here! Get all the information you need to successfully cast your ballot on Election Day and learn more about what happens next.
Get In-Person Assistance at a Vote Center from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
On Election Day, there will be 45 Vote Centers open throughout San Mateo County. Voters can visit any Vote Center in the County to receive assistance. Tools and services available at Vote Centers include accessible ballot marking machines, translation services and facsimile ballots (reference ballots in other languages), in-person voting, curbside ballot drop-off, and Conditional Voter Registration. Find the nearest San Mateo County Vote Center here. For County Elections language assistance, go here.
In-person voting hours on Election Day are 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Remember! If you are in line to vote in-person at 8 p.m., remain in line until you successfully cast your ballot. However, voters who are simply returning a vote by mail ballot at a Vote Center on Election Day must do so by 8 p.m. in order for the ballot to be counted.
In order to ensure the safety of all voters on Election Day, the San Mateo County Elections Office published COVID-19 Safety Guidelines for all Vote Centers. Please review the guidelines here and do your part to keep you and your fellow voters safe.
Return your Ballot On-Time at a Drop Box
Important! Since Election Day is near, you are encouraged to return your ballot in person at a Vote Center official Ballot Drop Box to ensure it is received in time to be counted. If you must return your ballot by mail on Election Day, be sure to request a time-stamped postmark when mailing your ballot. Only ballots postmarked by Election Day and received within 17-days of Election Day are eligible to be counted.
The San Mateo County Election Office placed nearly 40 official Ballot Drop Boxes throughout the County. Return your voted ballot at any of the Ballot Drop Boxes throughout the County on Election Day no later than 8 p.m. in order for the ballot to be counted.
Did you forget to return your ballot before leaving the County? Don’t worry, you can return your vote by mail ballot at any polling place or Vote Center in California by 8 p.m. on Election Day. County Election Officials are required to forward all out-of-county ballots they receive to the appropriate jurisdiction for processing and ballots received no later than 17-days following Election Day will be counted.
Learn more about voting and returning your ballot in California here.
Election Night Results Reporting and Beyond
Election Night results are exciting, but they’re only the beginning. After the polls close at 8 p.m. on Election Night, the San Mateo County Election Office will begin reporting election results at approximately 8:10 p.m. The first results report will include ballots returned by mail, at official Ballot Drop Boxes, and all Vote Center ballots received prior to Election Day. Then, beginning at approximately 9 p.m. results reports will begin and include votes cast at all Vote Centers throughout San Mateo County. Results reports will continue every 30-minutes until all Vote Center ballots have been reported.
After Election Night, the County will continue to process all ballots until all eligible ballots are counted. This includes vote by mail ballots that arrive in the mail and from Ballot Drop Boxes, and provisional ballots cast through Conditional Voter Registration. Results reports will be publicly available throughout the counting process on the San Mateo County Election website, here. In California, Election Officials are permitted 30-days to certify election results and conduct the official canvass, including the 1% manual tally, to ensure tabulation accuracy. Learn more about the process here.
To follow California statewide results, visit the California Secretary of State’s Election Results Page here.
Who to Call on Election Day
For questions on Election Day, call or text the San Mateo County Election Office at (650) 312–5222 or visit their website here.
