Press Releases

SANTA ANA, CA - Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley has just certified the official results of the March Presidential Primary Election, held on Tuesday, March 3, 2020.

Total turnout from the election was 50.1% with 79.21% of voters casting their ballot by mail and 20.79% casting their ballot in-person at one of 189 Vote Centers throughout Orange County. The ballots cast for this Presidential Primary (817,844) was 18.2% higher than the 2016 Presidential Primary Election (691,802) and 91.5% higher than the 2012 Presidential Primary Election (426,869). 

SANTA ANA, CA - Orange County will conduct a risk-limiting audit beginning Monday, March 16, 2020. The ballot comparison audit is not required under California law, and is being conducted in addition to the one percent manual tally of precincts.

SANTA ANA, CA - On Sunday, March 1, 2020 at approximately 4:30 p.m., the Orange County Registrar of Voters received reports that a shooting occurred near the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Santa Ana (the site of one of our Vote Centers). Vote Center staff and voters have been evacuated and are safe. An active criminal investigation is taking place and the Santa Ana Police Department is asking the public to stay away from the vicinity of the area.

SANTA ANA, CA – The Registrar of Voters is urging Orange County’s voters to not wait until March 3rd to vote. This election voting is different - new options allow voters to vote in-person over an 11-day window. Vote Centers are open now through March 3, 2020 – for locations and hours visit ocvote.gov/votecenter.

SANTA ANA, CA – Following the successful pop-up voting program in the 2018 midterm election cycle, the Orange County Registrar of Voters is pleased to announce the pop-up voting schedule for the March 3, 2020 Presidential Primary Election with sites ranging from Buena Park to San Clemente. Pop-up voting provides a full mobile Vote Center solution to bring voting to high-traffic locations for a single day.

SANTA ANA, CA – Each election in Orange County, the Orange County Registrar of Voters invites members of the public to observe the election process. Election observers are permitted to observe Vote Centers operations, including opening and closing procedures, view all activities at the central counting site, view mail ballot and provisional ballot processing, and much more.

SANTA ANA, CA - Accuracy testing of Orange County's voting system will commence on February 14, 2020, and will continue until all devices have been included in the test. Due to the lengthy process of including all devices in the test, the Logic and Accuracy Test Tally may not commence until a week after the test begins. The Logic and Accuracy test is required by law to be performed prior to each election. Logic and Accuracy tests will include proofing the programming of the ballot, each ballot style and each contest position on the ballot. The process is open to the public.

SANTA ANA, CA – On Tuesday, January 7, 2020, the Orange County Registrar of Voters will be conducting a mock election to showcase the features of Vote Centers and the County’s new voting system. The public is invited to attend and learn about the benefits of Orange County’s transition to Vote Centers, such as being able to register to vote, cast an in-person ballot, obtain replacement ballots and more. In addition, voters will be able to cast a mock ballot on the new voting system.

The key benefits of the transition to Vote Centers include:

SANTA ANA, CA – If you are a No Party Preference voter and want to vote for a presidential candidate, the Registrar of Voters needs to hear which ballot you would like by January 2nd for March 3, 2020 Presidential Primary Election. No Party Preference voters that do not inform the Registrar of Voters will receive a ballot without presidential candidates.

SANTA ANA, CA - The Registrar of Voters announced today that the nomination period has been extended until December 11, 2019, 5:00 p.m. for the office listed below because the incumbent failed to file Nomination Papers by the December 6, 2019 deadline.

Any qualified person, other than the incumbent, can now file the Nomination Papers until December 11, 2019, 5:00 p.m., in the office of the Registrar of Voters, 1300 South Grand Avenue, Building C, Santa Ana, California. 

Business hours are:
8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.