In Northern California, here's what we will -- and won't --know on election night

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Election officials in Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado and Yolo counties will tabulate hundreds of thousands of California ballots starting Tuesday night in what looks like a too-close-to-call election — one that will result in either the return of Donald Trump as President of the United States, or usher in Vice President Kamala Harris as the first woman president in American history.

But tabulating that many ballots — and doing so accurately — is no instantaneous feat.

It can take weeks to count every ballot, particularly those vote-by-mail ballots, which Californians are allowed to put in the mail on Election Day and which will be counted so long as they arrive to their county election office within seven days of Nov. 5.

And, thanks to a new law, election results also won’t be certified until Dec. 3.

Voters will receive plenty of updates in the meantime. Here’s what information voters can expect to have the night of the election.

How long will it take to count ballots in California?

Counting ballots is one task — certifying them is another.

A law Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in October dictates that counties cannot certify election results until 28 days after the election, which means all election results will be certified on or after Dec. 3.

Counties in the Sacramento region usually take three to four weeks to count. There are a number of factors that go into the counting, and the popularity of absentee voting is one. Hundreds of thousands of vote-by-mail ballots means processing and verifying hundreds of thousands of signatures before the ballot is even opened.

Voters also bring in vote-by-mail ballots the day of the election, rather than sending them or dropping them off early, which can slow the process.

All four counties participate in the Voter’s Choice Act (VCA) election model, which could encourage a quicker count.

That means voting centers are set up throughout the counties days before Election Day so that voters can drop off their ballots early. This helps county election officials begin to process ballots sooner, so all the work doesn’t fall on election night.

The VCA model, championed by former Secretary of State and current Sen. Alex Padilla, is also meant to increase voting accessibility and participation.

When it comes to counting ballots, each county in the region has its own mitigating factors to consider.

In Yolo County, for example, there are thousands of UC Davis students who are registered to vote all over the state, but end up dropping their ballots off in the county drop boxes whether they’re registered in Yolo County or not.

Jesse Salinas, the Yolo County Registrar of Voters, said that one year, election officials had to ship ballots to 38 different counties after Election Day because so many students not registered in Yolo dropped their ballots at the drop box by campus. Many students also vote on Election Day with same-day registration; these conditional ballots take longer to process.

In El Dorado and Placer Counties — both of which share a border with the Nevada state line through national forests — election officials also have to deal with the elements in a sprawling region with rural communities. In Placer County the last two election nights, there were blizzard conditions.

How long it takes to tabulate all of the ballots depends on all of those conditions, said Stacy Robinson, Public Information Assistant at the Placer elections office.

“Tt depends on voter turnout, it depends on in-person voting, and it depends on how fast those trucks can get (the ballots) down the hill.”

What information will we have on election night?

The polls in California close at 8 p.m., and election offices in Sacramento, Yolo, El Dorado and Placer counties are prepared to release their first batch of results at 8:15 p.m.

The first drop represents the vote-by-mail ballots that counties received at drop boxes and vote center ballot drop-off locations in the days and weeks leading up to the election.

Second, third, and potentially fourth results landing election night between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. the following morning will represent those who voted in person. Election officials don’t leave until every in-person, vote center ballot has been tabulated.

After election night, more results will drop twice a week, typically Tuesday and Friday afternoons, until all ballots have been counted and certified in early December.

How many people have voted so far?

Election officials in the Sacramento region say that voter turnout could be at its highest this year. This is common for presidential election years, which encourage voter turnout — but there are other factors as well.

In Yolo County, the most populated towns and cities of West Sacramento, Davis, Woodland and Winters all have a local measure on the ballot, which will bring voters to the polls, according to Jesse Salinas, the county’s Registrar of Voters.

As of last Friday morning, the county has received more than 40,000 vote-by-mail ballots, out of 118,000 registered voters.

“That’s a pretty big mark,” Salinas said. “We’ve had a consistent flow of people in the vote centers, and we’re already at a third of voters that have cast their ballots.”

In El Dorado County, registrar Bill O’Neill said that his office has received 42% of registered voters’ ballots, or 57,757 so far.

In Sacramento, there are 889,465 registered voters, and 261,869 have already sent in their ballots for tabulation.

Placer County is seeing a similarly high early turnout. So far, upwards of 42% of the county’s 286,115 registered voters have already submitted their ballots. Robinson credits this turnout to the new “sign, scan and go” process.

If a voter in Placer wants to drop off their vote-by-mail ballot at a voting center instead of putting it in the mail, the “sign, scan and go” process allows them to open their ballot with an election official and immediately place the ballot in the scanning machine. That way, they can see their ballot being counted in real time. That also means that their votes will be part of the Election Day tally.

For every one person who walks into the voting center and votes in the traditional way — picking up a ballot, filling it out, and dropping it off — six are utilizing the “sign, scan and go” method, according to Robinson.

“It’s like an express lane,” she said. “People get to watch their ballot be counted right in front of them, and their ballot will be part of election night results. This eradicates a lot of concerns.”

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