Press Releases

May 29, 2020 - SANTA ANA - The recount of the ballots cast in the City of Westminster Special Recall Election has concluded with no change to the original outcome. The recount began Tuesday, April 28, 2020 and concluded Friday, May 29, 2020.

During the recount every ballot was manually recounted (17,205) in 30 precincts and election materials were reviewed by the recount requestor. There were no changes to the vote totals - pursuant to California Elections Code §15632 the original certification of the ballots cast remains as the official certification.

SANTA ANA, CA –  Orange County will conduct a risk-limiting audit beginning Wednesday, May 27, 2020. 

The risk-limiting audit is a procedure that provides strong statistical evidence that the election outcome is correct, or has a high probability of correcting an outcome that wouldn't match a full hand count of the ballots. The audit itself requires human beings to examine and verify more ballots in close contests and fewer ballots in contests with wider margins.

Quote by Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley

SANTA ANA, CA - April 29, 2020 - Accuracy testing of Orange County's voting system will take place Tuesday, May 5, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. for the May 19, 2020, City of Santa Ana Special Recall Election. The Logic and Accuracy test is required by law to be performed prior to each election. Logic and Accuracy tests will include proofing the programming of the ballot, each ballot style and each contest position on the ballot. Due to the response of the COVID-19 pandemic, the building is closed to the public.

SANTA ANA – April 13, 2020 – In-person Vote Center voting in the City of Santa Ana Special Recall Election, which was scheduled to begin on Saturday, May 9, 2020 and run through May 19, 2020, has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 response. The election will now be conducted as an all-mail ballot election.

SANTA ANA, CA –  Orange County will conduct a risk-limiting audit beginning Thursday, April 16, 2020. 

The risk-limiting audit is a procedure that provides strong statistical evidence that the election outcome is correct, or has a high probability of correcting an outcome that wouldn't match a full hand count of the ballots. The audit itself requires human beings to examine and verify more ballots in close contests and fewer ballots in contests with wider margins.

Quote by Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley

SANTA ANA, CA - Accuracy testing of Orange County's voting system will take place Wednesday, April 1, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. for the April 7, 2020, City of Westminster Special Recall Election. The Logic and Accuracy test is required by law to be performed prior to each election. Logic and Accuracy tests will include proofing the programming of the ballot, each ballot style and each contest position on the ballot. Due to the response of the COVID-19 pandemic, the building is closed to the public.

SANTA ANA - In-person Vote Center voting in the Westminster Special Recall Election, which was scheduled to begin on Saturday, March 28, 2020 and run through April 7, 2020, has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 response. The following previously scheduled locations will now be closed to in-person voting:

SANTA ANA, CA - Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley has just certified the official results of the March Presidential Primary Election, held on Tuesday, March 3, 2020.

Total turnout from the election was 50.1% with 79.21% of voters casting their ballot by mail and 20.79% casting their ballot in-person at one of 189 Vote Centers throughout Orange County. The ballots cast for this Presidential Primary (817,844) was 18.2% higher than the 2016 Presidential Primary Election (691,802) and 91.5% higher than the 2012 Presidential Primary Election (426,869). 

SANTA ANA, CA - Orange County will conduct a risk-limiting audit beginning Monday, March 16, 2020. The ballot comparison audit is not required under California law, and is being conducted in addition to the one percent manual tally of precincts.

SANTA ANA, CA - On Sunday, March 1, 2020 at approximately 4:30 p.m., the Orange County Registrar of Voters received reports that a shooting occurred near the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Santa Ana (the site of one of our Vote Centers). Vote Center staff and voters have been evacuated and are safe. An active criminal investigation is taking place and the Santa Ana Police Department is asking the public to stay away from the vicinity of the area.