California voters are getting a jump on Election Day — with almost a million additional ballots already cast compared with the eve of the last midterm election.
asserted
ballots → get → election
More than 6.4 million ballots had been cast as of Sunday, according to the California Secretary of State’s latest report, surpassing the roughly 5.47 million recorded the day before the November 2022 election.
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ballots → cast → election
That’s about 934,000 additional ballots, a 17.1% increase — even with this year’s snapshot taken two days before Tuesday’s election rather than one.
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snapshot → ’ → one
Pollster Paul Mitchell, of Political Data Inc, said his tracking shows an even larger increase.
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tracking → say → increase
California’s early voting is running “well over” 2022 levels, with roughly 1.2 million to 1.3 million additional ballots returned compared with the same stage of the last midterm election, Mitchell told The California Post.
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Mitchell → run → Post
Mitchell cautioned that his figures and the secretary of state’s totals use different reporting cutoffs.
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figures → caution → cutoffs
County processing and reporting can lag by about a day, complicating comparisons between election cycles.
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processing → lag → cycles
Even Los Angeles County is ahead of its 2022 pace, Mitchell said, despite that year’s competitive mayoral contest featuring Rick Caruso, whose candidacy helped draw Republican voters but ended in defeat.
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candidacy → say → defeat
Mitchell said Los Angeles County’s returns were up roughly 70,000 ballots compared with the corresponding point in 2022, with the share of registered voters who had returned ballots about 2 percentage points higher.
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who → say → ballots
The makeup of the early electorate is also shifting, he said, pointing to a substantial increase in Latino participation statewide.
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he → shift → participation
The latest total from the secretary of state’s office includes 6,107,024 returned mail ballots and 299,137 ballots cast in person, according to the state’s VoteCal report, which compiles information supplied by California’s 58 counties.
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which → include → counties
Mail ballot returns remained below the roughly 8.1 million reported on the eve of the 2024 presidential election.
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returns → remain → election
That year, the secretary of state’s Monday update showed 8,058,584 returned mail ballots, according to a contemporaneous report by Patch.
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update → show → Patch
Across California, the state’s latest figures show sharp geographic differences.
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figures → show → differences
Los Angeles County accounted for nearly 1.4 million ballots, more than a fifth of the statewide total.
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County → account → total
Its participation rate, measured against voters issued mail ballots, stood at 23.45%, below the statewide figure of 27.32%.
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rate → measure → %
San Diego County reported 694,363 ballots, or 34.03%, followed by Orange County with 600,796 ballots and a rate of 31.16%.
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County → report → %
Riverside County recorded 372,661 ballots, or 25.45%.
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County → record → ballots
Some of the smallest counties posted the highest participation rates.
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Some → post → rates
Sierra County led at 47.99%, with 1,050 ballots cast, followed by Plumas County at 46.88%.
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County → lead → %
Imperial County had the lowest rate at 16.61%.
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County → have → %
Mail ballots accounted for about 95% of the statewide early tally, but millions of voters returned them without using the postal service.
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millions → account → service
More than 3 million arrived by mail, while nearly 2.7 million were deposited in drop boxes.
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million → arrive → boxes
Another roughly 396,000 were returned at designated drop-off locations or vote centers.
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396,000 → return → locations
Counties had accepted 99.07% of returned mail ballots.
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Counties → accept → ballots
The state cautions that its figures reflect county reports at a specific point in time.
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figures → caution → time
The Aporia
