Orange County Registrar of Voters

Vote Early. It’s Easy and Secure.

With less than a week left to vote in the 2025 Statewide Special Election, voters have four easy and secure ways to cast their ballot by 8 p.m. on November 4.

Place the ballot into any official ballot drop box.

Use the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to return the ballot.

Drop the ballot off at any Vote Center.

Visit a Vote Center to vote an in-person ballot.

Voters who plan to mail their ballot to the Registrar of Voters are encouraged to provide it to the USPS before Election Day.

Ballot envelopes must be postmarked by November 4. Changes earlier this year to mail processing could result in the USPS postmarking ballots the day after they are put in the mail.

For more information on completing or casting a ballot, visit ocvote.gov/voting.

All Vote-By-Mail ballots returned before November 4 and accepted for counting as well as in-person ballots cast at Vote Centers will be included in the election results reports posted on November 4.

The first election results report will be posted at 8:05 p.m. on November 4 after Vote Centers close. Updated results reports will be posted at 9:30 p.m. and every half-hour thereafter until all in-person ballots are included in the results.

To monitor Orange County election results, please visit ocvote.gov/results. Statewide results for Proposition 50 will be posted by the Secretary of State on its website at www.sos.ca.gov/elections.

Bob Page
Registrar of Voters

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There is less than a week to vote in the 2025 Statewide Special Election!

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Your Vote is Secret Even with Observers Watching

The California Constitution provides that all voters have a right to vote a secret ballot.

State law also requires that all elections be conducted transparently, allowing anyone to observe the operation of Vote Centers, collection of ballots, and processing of ballots.

It is common for political parties, candidate campaigns, voter groups, Congressional representatives to observe elections. Local and national media may also be present.

For the 2025 Statewide Special Election, the U.S. Department of Justice also plans to assign two attorneys to watch the election in Orange County from Nov. 3 to Nov. 6.

During the 2024 Presidential General Election, more than 2,300 observers visited the Registrar of Voters from October 5 to December 2 to watch ballot processing. The most in one day was 400 observers.

All observers each election must follow the same rules, including limitations on their access.

To ensure voters can vote privately free from intimidation from any observer, State law prohibits election observers from:

Threatening, intimidating, or coercing voters to dissuade them from voting
Obstructing access to a voting location or parking
Disrupting the election process
Photographing or filming a voter marking a ballot or entering or exiting a voting location with the intent to dissuade the voter from voting or if the voter feels intimidated
Within 100 feet of a voting location or of voters standing in line waiting to vote, asking voters about their eligibility to vote or encouraging voters to vote Yes or No on Proposition 50 by speaking with the voter or wearing clothing/handing out items that advocate how to vote on the measure
Challenging a voter’s eligibility to vote
Presenting false information to voters about voting
Touching ballots, election material, equipment, or staff
Entering secure areas without the express permission of the Registrar of Voters
Carrying a firearm or wearing the uniform of a peace officer or security personnel

Law enforcement and District Attorney investigators are available during in-person voting to respond quickly to violations of these State laws.

Securely Tracking Voter Participation

The Orange County Registrar of Voters tracks voter participation data in near real time – it allows us to know when a voter has already checked in at a Vote Center or cast a Vote-By-Mail ballot.

This prevents a voter from successfully double voting and ensures a safe and secure election.

We use electronic voter rosters on poll books that contain every voter in the county. When a voter checks in at a Vote Center, that information is encrypted and securely transmitted to the county and state voter registration systems. This updated voter participation information is then securely transmitted to all poll books in use throughout the county.

This means that a voter who tries to vote a second ballot at a neighboring Vote Center will be detected before they get into their car to leave the first Vote Center.

When we start to process a Vote-By-Mail ballot, we also immediately give the voter election participation credit in the county and state voter registration systems, which is then securely transmitted to all poll books.

If the voter has already checked in and voted at a Vote Center when we start processing the voter’s Vote-By-Mail ballot, the mail ballot will be challenged and set aside so it is not counted.

If a voter tries to check in at a Vote Center after we have started processing the voter’s Vote-By-Mail ballot, the electronic voter roster on all poll books will show the voter already cast a ballot. If the voter states they have not voted, we will allow them to vote a provisional ballot that is sealed in an envelope while we research whether they have cast two ballots.

We can also see in the state’s voter registration system whether the voter has cast a ballot in another California county.

After each election, the Registrar of Voters’ team reviews the documents for each voter who potentially tried to cast two ballots in the election. If we have a reasonable suspicion that a voter did try to vote twice, we refer those voters to the Orange County District Attorney for investigation and possible prosecution.

How Will the Presidential Executive Order on Elections Change How I Vote in OC?

The Orange County Registrar of Voters and all county elections officials in California will continue to administer elections in compliance with existing state and federal laws.

Executive Order 14248 on Elections, issued on March 25, 2025, lays out the President's policy positions on elections.

The California Legislature or U.S. Congress would have to pass new law to implement the President’s policy provisions.

This is because Section 4 of Article I of the United States Constitution grants the authority to prescribe the times, places and manner for holding federal elections only to state legislatures and the U.S. Congress.

The Executive Order also directs federal executive branch agencies and independent agencies established by Congress to complete certain tasks, many of which have been blocked by court orders.

Conditional Voter Registration

Even if you missed the regular voter-registration deadline last week, you can still vote in the 2025 Statewide Special Election.

California permits same-day registration and voting, also known as Conditional Voter Registration.

New voters can fill out a conditional voter registration form in-person at the Registrar of Voters (1300 S. Grand Avenue, Bldg. C, Santa Ana, 92705) or any Vote Center.

After completing the conditional voter registration form, you will be issued a provisional ballot.

Before going to a Vote Center or our office to request a ballot, we encourage new voters who missed the registration deadline to register online, because it should help expedite the voting process when they arrive. Register to vote at ocvote.gov/registration.

If you have any questions on conditional voter registration and voting provisionally, visit our website at ocvote.gov/cvr or call our Voter Assistance Hotline at 714-567-7600 or 888-OCVOTES.


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