ABOUT 41,000 PEOPLE SHOWED UP to vote Tuesday in San Joaquin County, making their way to one of 158 polling locations that included residences and fire stations.
But the work of counting votes is far from over.
In its latest update, released shortly after 1 a.m. Wednesday, the San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters reported that more than 121,000 ballots had been counted — 29.2% of the county’s 415,611 registered voters. In the June primary, the county’s final report showed a turnout of 33.9%.
Registrar of Voters Olivia Hale expected between 46% and 60% of registered voters would cast ballots. If the higher number prevails, that’d mean an almost 15% increase from the last general election in 2022.
The first results, released shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday, reflected mail-in and early-voting ballots, Hale said. At that point, Stockton City Council incumbents were already leading in two races, while Democratic U.S. Reps. Josh Harder and Adam Gray were also ahead in their bids for another term in Congress.
Beginning just after 10 p.m., the county released subsequent updates as trucks returned with ballots cast in person across the county.
The process continued Wednesday, when more than 200 election staff were expected to work through the coming days to process the remaining ballots, including vote-by-mail ballots dropped off on Election Day, as well as provisional and conditional ballots.
Clock is ticking
By 5 p.m. Thursday, the Registrar is required to submit an initial estimate of ballots not yet processed, with an update to follow on Friday evening. After that, ballot updates will be posted by 7 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday until all have been counted.
During a tour of the Registrar’s downtown office just before noon Wednesday, Hale said about 100 staff members were currently working, each assigned to a different task, including removing ballots from envelopes and verifying voter signatures. It’s essential, Hale said, to ensure ballots are counted accurately and with precision.
“We’re all moving along,” Hale said. “Everyone has a task at hand.”
And as counting continues, Hale wants residents to be a part of the process. Tours are offered to anyone who wants to see the work in person, she said.
“It’s not that we’re counting slow; it’s that we’re counting accurately,” Hale said. “But with that, we’re going to do our very best to be as efficient as possible and get those results out to the public as quickly as we can.”
This story originally appeared in Stocktonia.