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Still Need to Vote on Election Day? How to Find Your Polling Place or Drop Off Your Ballot

Everything you need to know about voting on Election Day (Nov. 5), from where to drop off your mail-in ballot to how to find your polling place.
Carly Severn
Dax Strane drops off his mail-in ballot at the Alameda County Registrar of Voters in Oakland on Oct. 27, 2020. Alameda was one of the dozens of counties that consolidated voting locations in 2020.  (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

It’s finally Election Day: your last day to vote.

If you haven’t already voted, keep reading for everything you need to know about where you can vote in person today, where to drop off your ballot before polls close at 8 p.m. PST today and how to get a new ballot if you need one.

Jump straight to:

Or maybe you’re looking for last-minute information about what’s on your ballot before you submit it? Take a look at KQED’s Voter Guide, which unpacks ballot measures and compares candidates in every race in the Bay Area. It’ll be online until 8 p.m. tonight, after which time it’ll become our election results page.

Where should I drop off my completed ballot on Election Day?

Dropping your ballot into a secure official ballot drop box means from there, it’ll go straight to your county elections office — and it’ll be processed and counted quicker.

2024 Bay Area Voter Guide

You can also return your ballot in person to your county election office, any voting site or a drive-through ballot drop-off location up to 8 p.m. on Nov. 5.

To find your nearest ballot drop box or voting location, visit the state of California lookup tool:

  • Enter your county (adding your city or ZIP code will give more localized results, but it’s optional)
  • Check the “Early Voting” and/or “Drop Off Location” boxes
  • Hit “Search” to see all the drop-off locations in that area, as well as the voting locations where you can vote in person or drop off a ballot.

(In 2020, we had a lot of people asking us if you could drop off your ballot in a drop box that isn’t actually in your county if that’s more convenient to you. And the answer is: “Yes, you can.”

California election officials say they have eight days after receiving your ballot to forward it to your actual county to be processed. This will, of course, give your ballot another journey to make and will mean it doesn’t get to your own county’s election officials as fast as it could — which may affect your decision.)

Can’t I still use a USPS collection box to submit my ballot?

Yes, you could still mail your completed ballot via the USPS at any collection box. The envelope doesn’t require a stamp, and it’ll be counted as long as it’s postmarked by Nov. 5 (i.e., it makes the last postal collection on Election Day.)

But in order to count your ballot, your county elections office must receive it no later than Nov. 12, one week after Election Day. And sometimes, even ballots mailed through USPS on time don’t make it to the county elections office by that “one week after Election Day” deadline to be counted.

While USPS is not reporting any particular delays, the agency said it “anticipates similar service performance as demonstrated in the 2020 general election,” in which 99.89% of ballots mailed from voters nationwide to election officials were delivered within a week. This, of course, means that 0.11% nationwide — around 715,000 ballots — were not successfully delivered to county elections offices in time to be counted, according to the number of overall ballots cast that year.

Also, some people who mail their ballot on Election Day before 8 p.m. may think they’ve successfully gotten it in on time but have accidentally placed it in a USPS collection box that’s past its last collection for the day — which in many places is 5 p.m. or earlier. That means your ballot won’t be postmarked on Nov. 5, and your county elections office won’t count your vote.

All in all, delivering your ballot by hand via a drop-box or at a voting location by 8 p.m. on Nov. 5 guarantees it’ll reach your county elections office, bringing you peace of mind that you’ve made the deadline.

More Election Explainers

Where can I vote in person on Election Day?

If you live in San Francisco, Contra Costa or Solano counties, you are assigned a specific polling place, though Contra Costa County election officials say they can process your ballot no matter where you show up to vote. Voting at the county registrar’s office (at City Hall, in San Francisco’s case) is still an option on Election Day, even if you live in a county that assigns you a particular polling place.

If you live in Alameda, Marin, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Clara or Sonoma counties, you can vote at any voting location, known as Vote Centers, including your county registrar’s office.

Wherever you live, find your voting location or your polling place through the state’s lookup tool:

  • Enter your county (adding your city or ZIP code will give more localized results, but it’s optional)
  • Check the “Early Voting” and/or “Drop Off Location” boxes
  • Hit “Search” to see where you can vote in person, as well as drop off a ballot.

You can also check the mail-in ballot you were sent to see where you can vote and whether you’ve been assigned a specific polling place. If in doubt, you can call your county directly about voting on Election Day.

If you choose to vote in person on Nov. 5, make a plan to ensure you don’t run out of time or arrive at your voting location after polls close at 8 p.m. Otherwise, you’ll be turned away and unable to vote. As long as you’re in line to vote before 8 p.m., you can stay in line and vote.

Do I have to bring my mail-in ballot with me to vote IRL?

Yes, it’s a good idea to bring the blank ballot you were mailed, as some counties may require you to vote provisionally if you don’t bring it. If you’re issued a new ballot when you vote in person, any ballot you left at home will be canceled.

Provisional votes are subject to extra checks — confirming that you’re actually registered to vote in California or that you didn’t already complete and mail your ballot — and this extra layer of confirmation takes time. That means that although your vote will eventually be counted, it might not be tallied on Election Day itself.

My ballot never showed up. Can I still vote?

First, look up your voter registration at voterstatus.sos.ca.gov to check your registration status, which will show you whether you’re correctly registered to vote and to which address. It should also show whether your ballot was mailed out.

If you’re correctly registered to the right address, your county elections office won’t mail you a ballot six days or less before Election Day (because it can’t be sure the ballot will reach you in time.) So go to your county elections office or your voting location in person, explain what’s happened and request a replacement ballot. Find your voting location or your polling place through the state’s lookup tool.

If it turns out you were not actually registered to vote or need to re-register to update details like your address or your legal name, you always have the option of Same Day Registration at an open voting location, where you can then fill out and submit your ballot, too.

I made a mistake on my ballot, and now it’s Election Day. What do I do?

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to correcting a mistake on your ballot in California — how a voter corrects a mistake is up to your county, and their advice for how to fix a mistake on your ballot is almost certainly printed on the ballot itself. So check there first.

In the Bay Area, the advice ranges from “X out the incorrect choice and fill in the oval of your actual choice” to “get a new ballot entirely.” See what your county said here.

And if you’ve really messed up your ballot (coffee spills happen), remember you can go to your county elections office or a voting location on Nov. 5 to turn in your spoiled ballot there and get a new one before polls close at 8 p.m.

Is it too late to register to vote?

No. If you’re eligible to vote, you can register in person and cast your vote all the way up until polls close at 8 p.m. on Election Day.

This is possible through Same Day Voter Registration (also known as conditional voter registration), and you can also use this to re-register if you need to update your address or your legal name. Find your nearest polling place or voting location.

Regardless of how you deliver it, you can sign up to track your ballot’s progress with the “Where’s My Ballot?” online tool and be reassured it’s on its way to being counted.

If you’re still waiting to receive your ballot entirely, you can use that same tool to verify it was sent out or use voterstatus.sos.ca.gov. Read more about what to do if your ballot has gone missing.

If I’m voting at the last minute, do I have to fill out the whole ballot?

No. In an ideal world, you’d have the time to read up on every measure and candidate on your ballot and make an informed choice about your vote on every single race. (This is the part where we remind you of the KQED Voter Guide, which breaks down every race in the Bay Area and will be available online until polls close at 8 p.m. on Tuesday.)

But sometimes, things don’t work out that way — and while you might know your choice for president or how you want to vote in the U.S. Senate contest, perhaps you’re less certain about the statewide propositions or water district, and you’re running out of time to vote.

In this case, remember: You can vote in as many or as few races on your ballot as you want, and leaving certain races blank won’t invalidate your ballot or the other things you have voted on.

How can I contact my county directly about voting?

Across the Bay Area, elections officials are encouraging voters to reach out — early — with any questions or concerns. Here’s the contact information for your county:

  • Alameda: For information about voting by mail, registration and polling place lookup, call 510-267-8683.
  • Contra Costa: Call 925-335-7800 or email voter.services@vote.cccounty.us.
  • Marin: Call 415-473-6456 or go to the Marin County elections webpage to send a form email.
  • Napa: Call 707-253-4321 or email the elections office at elections@countyofnapa.org.
  • San Francisco: Call 415-554-4375 or email sfvote@sfgov.org.
  • San Mateo: Call toll-free at 888-762-8683 or email registrar@smcacre.org.
  • Santa Clara: Call toll-free at 866-430-VOTE (8683)​ or email registrar@rov.sccgov.org.
  • Solano: Call 707-784-6675 or toll-free at 888-933-VOTE (8683). You can also email elections@solanocounty.com.
  • Sonoma: Call 707-565-6800 or toll-free at 800-750-8683.

The state also has a full list of every county elections office in California.

Tell us: What else do you need information about?

At KQED News, we know that it can sometimes be hard to track down the answers to navigate life in the Bay Area in 2024. We’ve published clear, practical explainers and guides about COVID-19, coping with intense winter weather, and exercising your right to protest safely.

So tell us: What do you need to know more about? Tell us, and you could see your question answered online or on social media. What you submit will make our reporting stronger and help us decide what to cover here on our site and on KQED Public Radio, too.

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