Orange County voters who want to cast their 2026 midterm ballots in person can now do so.
Across Orange County, 39 vote centers open today, Oct. 24. These are in addition to the dozens of ballot drop boxes already available around the county.
Related: Orange County’s 2026 general election voter guide is here to help you cast your ballot
Vote centers offer a range of services, aside from serving as a place to cast a ballot. There, voters can obtain a replacement ballot or one in their preferred language, register to vote and cast a provisional ballot or find other help for voting-related issues.
An additional 152 vote centers will open on Oct. 31, with still another opening on Nov. 3 at UC Irvine.
Find the nearest vote center, and when it opens, at the county registrar’s website, ocvote.gov/elections/vote-center-locations.
Vote centers will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Nov. 2. On Election Day, which is Nov. 3, vote centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Nearly 2 million registered voters in Orange County were sent ballots this year. As of Tuesday, nearly 177,000 ballots from Orange County voters had already been returned, according to the registrar of voters.
Monday was the deadline to register to vote, but there is still an opportunity to cast a ballot in the general election for those who missed it.
California has what’s called “conditional voter registration.” Eligible citizens are able to register or re-register to vote at their county elections office, polling place or vote centers and cast a ballot. Those ballots won’t be processed and counted, however, until the county elections office has verified the voter’s registration application.
Those who have already voted can track their ballot status with the California secretary of state’s “Where’s My Ballot” tool. Found at california.ballottrax.net, voters input their name, date of birth and ZIP code to register for the service. It will relay the status of the ballot and voters can sign up to receive information about its process via email, text message or call.
Ballots must be cast by Nov. 3.
California election officials encourage those who choose to vote by mail to do so early, by Oct. 27, to ensure their vote is counted.
They suggest mailing a ballot so early not only so that they are postmarked by Election Day, as required by law, but also to allow enough time for ballots to be delivered to county election offices. In California, local election offices will accept ballots up to seven days after Election Day. Ballots that arrive later won’t be counted.
During the June primary election, 148,241 mail ballots were rejected, with nearly two-thirds of the rejections due to these missed deadlines, according to the attorney general’s office.
After that Oct. 27 date, state election officials have encouraged voters to go inside a post office to request that an employee postmark the ballot by hand, then and there. Or better yet, they have said, later voters could utilize a ballot drop box or cast it in person at a vote center.
Staff writer Linh Tat contributed to this report.