It’s Election Day in California.
The state’s special election on redistricting started with a bang less than three months ago — and has culminated in this, the final day for voters to cast their ballots on Proposition 50.
Californians are being asked whether to OK new, partisan congressional maps for the next three elections.
Related: Southern California’s guide to Prop. 50, the 2025 redistricting election
Backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and prominent Democrats across the country, the changes to congressional districts are meant to give the state’s Democratic Party a boost in the upcoming midterm elections, a counter to similar gerrymandering efforts in Republican-led states at the behest of President Donald Trump.
For those who haven’t yet cast a ballot, there’s still time.
Polls are open today from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
And remember, if you’re in line to vote when the clock strikes 8, you can stay in line and still vote. Poll workers are instructed, per the secretary of state, to prohibit anyone who arrives after 8 p.m. from voting, but people who are in line are still allowed to cast their ballots.
Ballots postmarked by today, Nov. 4, and received by the county registrar’s office by Nov. 12, will be counted in the election.
That being said, California officials encouraged voters who wished to vote by mail to do so early due to concerns that residents who live more than 50 miles from a U.S. Postal Service regional mail processing hub wouldn’t have a guarantee that their ballot would be postmarked that same day.
And just make sure that if you’re submitting a mail ballot, you sign that envelope.
The ongoing federal government shutdown is not expected to impact Election Day or ballot counting in any way, state officials have said. The U.S. Postal Service’s operations are an independent agency funded by the sale of its products and services, and it is prepared for an influx of mail because of the election and holiday season, Natashi Garvins, a spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Service in Southern California, has said.
As for when Californians will start seeing results in the Proposition 50 election, that somewhat depends on just how early people voted.
The first batch of election results will be released shortly after polls close on Tuesday, Nov. 4, at 8 p.m., per the secretary of state’s schedule. These are semi-official results from mailed and early-voting ballots processed ahead of Election Day.
State law provides time for voters to correct, or “cure,” a ballot if issues arise.
For example, if a voter forgets to sign their signature on a vote-by-mail envelope or the signature doesn’t match the one on file with elections offices, they’re contacted and given a chance to remedy the issue.
The cure deadline for the special election is Nov. 30 at 5 p.m. The secretary of state has until Dec. 12 to certify the statewide results.
As of Sunday, Nov. 2, more than 6.4 million vote-by-mail ballots had been returned and accepted, according to data from the secretary of state’s office.
What’s at stake in Orange County
The maps before voters in the special election create several domino-effect changes in the effort to reduce the number of California’s 52 congressional seats with a majority of registered Republican voters from nine to four.
That includes some changes that trickle down to impact Orange County specifically.
Notably, the proposed maps would split Orange County into eight congressional districts, rather than the six it has now. Two of those proposed districts — the 38th District and 41st District — would mostly encompass communities to the north in Los Angeles County while picking up a few Orange County’s cities.
But other notable changes are just how Orange County’s communities are split under the maps before voters.
Several Orange County cities are split among two — and sometimes three — congressional districts under these proposals.
A small portion of Fullerton would be included in California’s 41st Congressional District, which mostly encompasses communities in Los Angeles County, as well as the 45th and 46th districts. Santa Ana, meanwhile, would be split between California’s 45th and 46th districts as well, with a small portion of the southern part of the city included in the 42nd District, a new district that would span the coast from Long Beach to part of Newport Beach.
Meanwhile, Newport Beach would break between California’s 42nd Congressional District and the 47th District, which would be redrawn to still include Irvine and Laguna Beach but pick up Dana Point.
Mission Viejo would also be divided, part of it in that new 47th District and the other in the 40th District.
One of the most talked-about changes is the new 42nd Congressional District, now represented by Rep. Robert Garcia, a Long Beach Democrat. The district would be redrawn to swivel down to pick up more coastal areas, including Huntington Beach and part of Newport Beach, as well as Costa Mesa and part of southern Santa Ana, while keeping Long Beach.
Huntington Beach and Newport Beach communities are now represented by a different Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Dave Min, in California’s 47th Congressional District.
The maps before voters also open the door to a potential Republican-on-Republican showdown in 2026 in what would be the new 40th Congressional District.
This would be one of the four congressional districts with a majority of registered Republican voters, and it could lend itself to a race that features Reps. Young Kim, R-Anaheim Hills, and Ken Calvert, R-Corona.
The 40th District now includes Mission Viejo, Villa Park and Yorba Linda, along with communities in western Riverside and San Bernardino counties, and is represented by Kim.
But the newly drawn one shifts the district more eastward, losing Orange County’s Aliso Viejo and Lake Forest and picking up Menifee, Wildomar and parts of Corona — areas represented by Calvert.
As of Monday afternoon, more than 636,000 ballots had been cast in Orange County, most through the mail. More than 1.9 million ballots were issued to registered voters in the county in early October.