The Orange County Registrar of Voters has released for public review an updated plan for how elections would be administered for the next four years.
The Election Administration Plan governs the voting process under the California Voter’s Choice Act, which the county adopted in 2019. It provides guidelines for vote center and ballot drop box operations, accessibility and language services and voter education and outreach strategies, as well as election security and contingency plans. State law required that the registrar update the election plan two years after it was first adopted in 2019, and now every four years.
Registrar of Voters Bob Page said the amended guidelines for 2026-29 will not be drastically different from previous versions.
“We have found that elections conducted pursuant to the EAPs approved in 2019 and 2021 have run well,” he said. “Therefore, we are not proposing major changes to how we conduct elections.”
Page flagged two operational differences between the proposed election plan for 2026-29 and the Election Administration Plan for 2021-25, which is guiding the current special election:
During the first 10 days of in-person voting, vote center hours will be shortened to 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Hours on election day remain the same. The changes will not apply to this year, and vote centers will open this weekend and Monday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
For special elections, the registrar will be expected to open one vote center per 60,000 voters on the first 10 days of in-person voting — and one per 30,000 voters on the three days leading up to election day. The 2021-25 plan set the vote center requirement only for regular elections. The registrar has been applying the same requirements to special elections; this will codify it in the next plan.
Page said the new Election Administration Plan is drawn from months of voter workshops and community feedback, federal and state law and data from previous elections. Translated versions of the election plan are available in Chinese, Farsi (Persian), Gujarati, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.
The document lays out a long list of commitments the registrar has pledged to follow to “ensure equal access to the election process” over the next four years.
They include implementing outreach strategies for language minority communities, such as hiring bilingual staff to maintain an “extensive community event calendar,” and publishing election information on a range of media platforms. The Election Administration Plan also covers support for voters with disabilities by allowing them to request accessible ballots and cast them curbside at vote centers.
A final draft of the Election Administration Plan has to be submitted to the Secretary of State for approval by Feb. 2.
Community members have until Nov. 13 to review and submit comments on the proposed plan. They can do so using an online public input form, by email to ocvoter@ocvote.gov, or by letter.
For more information, visit ocvote.gov/eap.