The Election Administration Plan is the guiding outline to implement the Voter’s Choice Act model of voting in Orange County that is updated every four years. It explains how voters can receive and return ballots, vote in person, and access services like language assistance and accessible voting. The EAP is developed with public input and must be approved by the California Secretary of State. The 2021-2025 EAP can be viewed at: ocvote.gov/eap

A: The Voter’s Choice Act requires a county elections official to review and consider revising its EAP within two years of the adoption of its first EAP and then every four years thereafter. The Orange County Registrar of Voters adopted the County’s first EAP in 2019 and an EAP Update in 2021. Another review of the EAP is required in 2025.

Pursuant to California Elections Code section 4005(a)(10)(G), a county elections official must:

• Notice and post a draft EAP Update for a public review and comment period of at least 14 days
• Hold a noticed public hearing to accept public comments on the draft EAP Update (Notice must be posted at least 10 days before the hearing on the websites of the Registrar of Voters and the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors)
• Consider public comments and draft an amended EAP Update
• Notice and post the amended draft EAP Update for a public review and comment period for at least 14 days

You may attend one of our community workshops to provide feedback or you may submit your feedback by using our online comment form. Workshops will be held throughout Orange County starting in the month of July. For specific dates and times of each workshop, view our All Workshop Flyer (link coming soon).

To receive email updates about the EAP, You can sign up for our Interested Parties email list to receive updates including community meeting announcements.

The Registrar of Voters is collecting feedback on the EAP with a focus on the following topics:

• Voting locations (Ballot Drop Boxes and Vote Centers)
• Accessibility
• Language Access
• Voter Outreach and Education
• Security and Contingency Plans

The EAP does not address requiring identification to vote, how ballots are processed after they are cast, how the election canvass is conducted, or how the public is accommodated to observer ballot processing. These activities are regulated by State Laws and Registrar of Voter’s procedures.

Submit your feedback for public comment in the Get Involved Tab by completing a Public Input Form. Even if you cannot attend a community workshop, we encourage you to read the current EAP and provide feedback concerning the EAP for review during development.

Interested groups can complete a Meeting Request Form in the Get Involved Tab to initiate the process. Please provide a date, time, and location and our office will follow up.

The public hearing is a requirement of the Voter’s Choice Act. During the meeting, the Registrar of Voters’ Office will provide an update on the Election Administration Plan. The meeting is tentatively scheduled for September 2025. Check back later for additional information.

The EAP plan update is adopted by the Registrar of Voters and then submitted to the California Secretary of State for approval of the education and outreach provisions of the EAP in accordance with the Voter’s Choice Act and pursuant to Elections Code Section 4005(a)(10)(I)(i).

While we appreciate your interest in the elections process, the scope of the EAP workshops is to update our existing plan and collect feedback from the community pertaining to topics within the current EAP. If you have other election related concerns, outside of the scope of the EAP, please email us at [email protected], call us at (714) 567-7600, or visit our general FAQ page to learn more: FAQs | OC Vote.

The Voter’s Choice Act is discretionary and was approved by the Orange County Board of Supervisors in 2019 for administering all future elections.

The Voter’s Choice Act is not up for renewal in Orange County and there are no provisions in statute regarding reverting back to polling places. A majority of the Board of Supervisors could direct at any time that future elections be conducted using the traditional polling place election model.

In addition to improving access to voting, Vote Centers:

• Provide additional services to voters not available at polling places, including the ability to issue a replacement Vote-By-Mail (VBM) ballot
• Improve voter convenience by providing in-person voting for up 11 days at any Vote Center rather than assigning a voter to one polling place open for only one day
• iImprove protections against voter fraud by requiring the sharing of real-time voter data between al Vote Centers and the Registrar of Voters (using countywide electronic poll books rather than paper rosters)
• Use facilities for Vote Centers that are better suited for voting, allowing Registrar of Voters office to find larger, accessible facilities that are more physically secure than polling place locations
• Employ skilled county employees that go through extensive training

Are Ballot Drop Boxes necessary

• Voter’s Choice Act counties need at least one Ballot Drop Box for every 15,000 voters on the 88th day before the election
• Polling Place counties need at least one Ballot Drop Box for every 30,000 voters on the 88th day before Election Day