More than 900,000 people have mailed in their ballots as of Tuesday morning, San Diego County Registrar of Voters Cynthia Paes said.
Most of the 1.98 million voters in San Diego prefer voting by mail, and as many as 500,000 mail-in ballots are expected to be dropped off on Election Day, she added.
But that doesn’t mean that people aren’t voting in person.
“We’ve had over 80,000 voters visit our vote centers and vote in person, and we expect a pretty high turnout today," Paes said. "For those of you who waited until election day to cast your ballot, you could be waiting in some lines.”
She expects turnout to be around 80%, comparable to the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections, when turnout was 83% and 81%, respectively.
As the presidential race is still neck-and-neck, some voters, such as Sean Hamilton, were still undecided.
“That one I actually left blank because I really don't prefer either candidate," he said. "I think there's a lot of really good Democrats. I think there's a lot of really good Republicans. But I think leadership on both sides — these wouldn't have been the people I'd pick to be up at the top.”
Hamilton said he was so dissatisfied with the presidential candidates that he almost didn’t vote Tuesday.
The first unofficial election results are expected after 8 p.m. Tuesday, and will include mail ballots received before today and vote center ballots from between Oct. 27 and Monday, according to the county of San Diego Communications Office.
The final unofficial results on election night may not come in until 1 a.m. Wednesday or later and will only include the ballots that could be counted immediately, the county said in a statement.
Mail ballots dropped off at vote centers, official drop boxes or picked up from the U.S. Postal Service on Election Day will be counted next, the county statement said.
Ballots mailed before or on Tuesday have seven days to arrive if postmarked by Election Day, the county said.
For provisional ballots, people who missed the Oct. 21 registration deadline can conditionally register and vote provisionally in person on Election Day. Once voter registration is processed and the Registrar's Office confirms the voter didn't vote elsewhere in the state, the voter registration becomes active and the provisional ballot is counted.
After Election Night, the next release of unofficial results is set to be posted by 6 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and again on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the county said.
The Registrar's Office will be closed Nov. 28 and Nov. 29 for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Results must be certified by Dec. 5. Final certified results will be posted on sdvote.com that day.
