San Francisco Department of Elections Announces Results Reporting Timeline for Nov. 3 General Election: Four Election-Night Reports, Earliest Certification Nov. 25
San Francisco, California — The City and County of San Francisco Department of Elections announced on Oct. 26 the schedule for preliminary results reporting and ballot processing updates for the Nov. 3, 2026 Consolidated General Election, with four preliminary reports on election night and the earliest possible certification date of Nov. 25.
The Department will release four preliminary results reports on election night: at approximately 8:45 p.m., a first report including vote totals from most vote-by-mail ballots received and processed before Election Day; at approximately 9:45 p.m., a second report adding available vote totals from ballots cast at polling places; at approximately 10:45 p.m., a third report adding polling place vote totals received since the second report; and, after results from all polling places have been received, a final report of the evening adding the remaining polling place vote totals.
Under state law, the Department cannot release election results until voting has ended in all California counties. If extended voting hours elsewhere in the state affect San Francisco's reporting schedule, the Department will post a notice at sfelections.gov/results, where all preliminary election results will be posted.
For local contests using ranked-choice voting, the first and fourth reports will include round-by-round preliminary results and summary tables showing each candidate's vote totals in the first and final rounds; the second and third reports will include only first-choice vote totals for these contests.
During the canvass period, beginning Wednesday, Nov. 4, the Department will publish daily estimates of the number of ballots remaining to be processed until all eligible ballots have been counted, and will release updated preliminary results at approximately 4 p.m. each day from Nov. 4 through Nov. 13, except Nov. 11 in observance of Veterans Day, with additional updates after Nov. 13 as ballots are counted. Under state law, the earliest date the Department may certify the election results is Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2026. The Department's director is John Arntz.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 照片：NeoMeesje，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons（旧金山市政厅入口，资料图）
