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Home/Election rules/California
CA · sourced voting rules

How elections work
in California

Rules that shape registration and voting, the officials responsible for administering them, and the gaps that still require an election-specific source.

Official election website ↗Who runs the election →

Make your voting plan

California
Check my registrationOfficial status lookup Find my polling placeOfficial locations and hours Deadlines and rulesCheck your state’s sources →

Election Day hours: 7 a.m.–8 p.m. local time

Dates for November 3

Download calendar

Partial coverage: only the dated entries below have been checked. Confirm other deadlines and exceptions with your election office.

California · Sourced election dates

Conditional registration and provisional voting available October 20–November 3; use the official election office. Source

Checked 2026-10-11. Confirm local details and exceptions with your election office.

Background registration and voting policy
State policy snapshot · not legal advice

Registration, primary, and voting methods

These values preserve the wording in the March 2026 EAC/NCSL profile. Asterisks and qualifications are meaningful; confirm the current election notice before acting.

Primary systemTop-two
Registration deadline policy15 days before Election Day
Same-day registrationPermitted
Early in-person votingBegins 29 days before Election Day
No-excuse absentee votingPermitted; ballots are mailed to all active registered voters
Mail-ballot return policySeven days after Election Day*
RANKED-CHOICE VOTING

Not established by this source

The current EAC/NCSL comparison profile does not provide a complete statewide RCV rule field. Election.org does not infer one.

WRITE-IN RULES

Not established by this source

Eligibility, filing, and counting rules can be election-specific. Use the official state election website.

RUNOFF OR WIN THRESHOLD

Read the election notice

The primary-system field above is published. A complete contest-by-contest threshold rule is not.

OFFICIAL BALLOT ORDER

Address and election required

A statewide rules profile cannot establish a voter's complete local specimen ballot.

Official November 3 judicial and statewide layer

California's published propositions and judicial questions

These records come from current Secretary of State publications: propositions are statewide, the two Supreme Court questions are statewide, and all 62 Court of Appeal questions are mapped by county.

14statewide propositionsSee what Yes and No mean →64judicial ballot questionsFind the questions for your county →
Source: U.S. Election Assistance Commission / NCSL State Election Profile for California ↗ · published March 2026 · verified 2026-08-24. Confirm current election details ↗
RewatchThe People’s Election