Ballots for California’s 2026 midterm elections will soon land in residents’ mailboxes, and, as usual, voters will have a few weeks to cast their ballot – including by mail if they choose.
Nothing has changed in terms of the procedure for mailing in one’s ballot in California since the last election, despite an executive order that President Donald Trump issued in March that would have changed and limited the vote-by-mail process.
But the nation’s highest court last month rejected the changes so close to the election — a decision hailed by voting rights groups and many state election officials worried the last-minute changes would upend elections.
“The uncertainty is behind us. Now, let the people vote!” California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said the day the U.S. Supreme Court rendered its decision.
“Now, we can finally move forward and get back to what we do best: conducting our elections without a dark cloud hanging over us — fairly, openly, for the people, by the people. No questions asked,” she added.
So where does that leave things for voters?
It means that in California, all registered voters will continue to receive a ballot in the mail. And, as before, they may return their ballot by placing it in a mailbox, depositing it in a designated drop box or turning it in at an in-person vote center.
For those who elect to vote by mail, as long as their ballot is postmarked by Nov. 3 and received by county election offices within a week of Election Day, it will count.
But a word of caution: Although voters may vote by mail up through Election Day, the California secretary of state’s office recommends those planning to use the U.S. Postal Service to mail back their ballot by Oct. 27, one week before Election Day.
Voters who vote by mail closer to Nov. 3 — and especially on Election Day itself — are encouraged to go inside a post office to request that an employee postmark their ballot then and there. This is to ensure the ballot is postmarked by the deadline date. Simply dropping your ballot off in a mailbox on Election Day won’t guarantee it will be postmarked the same day, meaning you risk not having your vote count.
Starting Monday, voters can go to caearlyvoting.sos.ca.gov to look up locations where they may drop off their ballots. There is also a link to county election offices, where voters can get more information specific to their county.
Whether voting by mail or in person, after casting one’s vote, voters can sign up to track the status of their ballot to confirm when it’s received and counted by registering at california.ballottrax.net/voter.
Both Weber and local election officials maintain that all forms of voting in California are safe and secure. This includes voting by mail, though Trump continues to allege, without proof, that there is widespread fraud in the mail-in ballot system.
The president ranted against the U.S. Supreme Court last month following its decision to block his executive order to restrict mail ballots.
He called it “another bad decision from the United States Supreme Court, one that the Court System took forever to give, and then blamed it, in part, on no time left to implement a solution to our totally CORRUPT and out of control Mail-In voting ‘disaster.’”
“The Supreme Court has really let our Country down!” Trump said on social media.
Meanwhile, voting by mail remains the most popular method for casting one’s ballot in California. During the June primary election, approximately 89% of voters statewide — including 82% of L.A. County voters, 87% of Orange County voters, 92% of Riverside County voters and 89% of San Bernardino County voters — voted by mail, according to the secretary of state’s office.