Frequently Asked Questions About the November 4, 2025, Statewide Special Election

About Voting

Who can vote in this election?

Any registered voter in California may vote in the 2025 Statewide Special Election. If you are registered to vote in San Bernardino County, you can check your voter registration status at My Elections Gateway on the Registrar of Voters website or visit VoterStatus.sos.ca.gov.

For the Statewide Special Election, what will appear on the ballot for us to vote on?

Proposition 50 is the only contest appearing on the 2025 Statewide Special Election ballot.

Voters can review the Secretary of States’ Voter Information Guide [pdf] to learn about this contest.

How do I cast a vote?

You have four ways to cast a ballot this election.

Your assigned polling place is listed on the bottom of the first page of your abbreviated Voter Information Guide. You may also use Polling Place Look-up tool to find your polling place.

In addition to voting by mail or using a mail ballot drop-box, the Registrar of Voters office opens for early voting on Monday, October 6.

Early voting at five additional locations will be available from Thursday, October 30 through Tuesday, November 4. Visit the Early Vote page for locations and hours.

Polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, November 4. Voters are encouraged to vote early to beat the rush at polling places on Election Day.

About Mail Ballots

When will mail ballots be mailed out?

Pursuant to California Elections Code section 3000.5, every active registered voter in the county is mailed a ballot. Mail ballots will be delivered to the United States Postal Service beginning October 6. For this election, the County Voter Information Guides are included in each mail ballot packet.

How can I get a replacement ballot if I do not receive a ballot in the mail?

If you do not receive a mail ballot, you can request a replacement ballot in person from the Registrar of Voters, an Early Vote site or a polling place. If you want the ballot mailed to you, use the Replacement Mail Ballot Application [pdf] or call the Registrar of Voters at 909-387-8300.

Alternatively, you may authorize another person to pick-up your mail ballot at the Registrar of Voters or an Early Vote site with an Application to Provide Vote-By-Mail Ballot to an Authorized Representative [pdf]

Note: If you request a replacement ballot, the Registrar of Voters will suspend the mail ballot you did not receive so someone else cannot use it to vote.

When do I need to return my completed mail-in ballot?

For your mail ballot to be counted, your ballot must be:

Postmarked no later than 8 p.m. on Election Day, November 4, 2025;
Dropped-off at any polling place by 8 p.m. on Election Day;
Delivered to the Registrar of Voters by 8 p.m. on Election Day; or
Deposited into a mail ballot drop box by 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Where can I track the status of my ballot?

You can track when your ballot is mailed, received, and accepted for counting through the Secretary of State’s Where’s My Ballot tracking system. You can sign up to receive notifications about the status of your mail ballot via email, text message, or by telephone. Sign up at WheresMyBallot.sos.ca.gov.

Where can I check on the status of my ballot if I did not sign up for Where’s My Ballot?

You may use one of the following two websites to look up the status of your ballot:

My Voter Status on the Secretary of State’s website allows you to look up the status of your ballot.
My Elections Gateway on the Registrar of Voters’ website allows you to look up the status of your ballot if you voted by mail.
- If you have cast a mail ballot, the status of your ballot will remain “received” until after we certify the election results. After certification, your mail ballot status will update to “counted” or “not counted.”
- If you voted at a polling place, your voting history will not be immediately available on My Elections Gateway. You will be able to view your voting history after the election results are certified to see that you voted in this election.

I received a notification that the Registrar of Voters was having trouble processing my ballot. What can I do to make sure my ballot is counted?

If you receive this message, you will have an opportunity to resolve the issue with your mail ballot up until two days before the Registrar of Voters certifies the results of the election.

The most common mail ballot issues are:

Voter did not sign the mail ballot return envelope
Signature on the mail ballot return envelope does not compare to the signature in the voter’s registration record
First-time voter did not provide sufficient identification information when registering to vote and must provide ID when voting the first time

Voters may return a Signature Verification and Unsigned Identification Envelope Statement [pdf], or a copy of their ID by dropping a copy off at the Registrar of Voters office, by mail, by fax, or by emailing a photographed or scanned copy of the statement or ID.

About Election Technology

What technology will voters use to cast their votes?

At polling places, voters will be able to mark their choices using a ballot marking device that will print the ballot after the voter makes their choices. Voters will cast their paper ballot by placing it in a green ballot box.

What is ASV?

ASV stands for Automatic Signature Verification. This technology is used to compare the signature on a voter’s mail ballot identification envelope with the signature on file in the voter’s registration record. If the ASV software determines that the signature meets or exceeds the confidence threshold established by the Registrar of Voters, the ballot proceeds to be counted. If the confidence rating falls below the established threshold, the ballot is referred to trained staff for manual signature verification.

What is a confidence rating?

The confidence rating in Automatic Signature Verification (ASV) software reflects how certain the system is that a signature on a mail ballot envelope matches the voter’s signature on file. The software assigns a percentage score to each comparison — the higher the percentage, the greater the confidence in the match. This rating is influenced by factors such as the clarity of the signature image, its similarity to known samples, and the verification methods used by the software.

In San Bernardino County, the confidence threshold is set at 45%. If a signature receives a confidence rating of 45% or higher, the ballot proceeds to be counted without further review. If the rating falls below 45%, the ballot is referred to trained staff for manual signature verification.

Can ASV software recognize differences in signatures?

The Automatic Signature Verification (ASV) software evaluates whether the signature on each mail ballot envelope matches the signature on the voter’s registration record. If the software does not detect sufficient similarity, the ballot is referred to trained staff for manual signature verification.

What happens when the system flags a signature as invalid?

The Automatic Signature Verification (ASV) software does not determine whether a signature is valid or invalid. Instead, it assigns a confidence rating based on how closely the signature on the mail ballot envelope matches the signature in the voter’s registration record. If the confidence rating falls below the threshold established by the Registrar of Voters, the ballot is referred to trained staff for manual signature comparison.

What is the process if the ASV software does not recognize similarities between a signature on a mail ballot envelope and the voter’s registration record?

If the Automatic Signature Verification (ASV) software assigns a low confidence rating to a signature, the ballot is referred to trained staff for manual review. Staff will compare the signature on the mail ballot envelope with multiple signature samples on file for the voter. If the staff determines that the signature does not sufficiently match any of the signatures on record, the Registrar of Voters will notify the voter of the issue and provide instructions on how to resolve the discrepancy to ensure their ballot can be counted.

Is the signature data secure?

Signature data is securely stored within the election management system and the Automatic Signature Verification (ASV) software. These systems are designed to comply with established data protection standards, ensuring the privacy, integrity, and security of all voter information.

About Election Results

When will the election results be posted?

On Election Night, the San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters releases unofficial results of ballots received from polling places and mail ballots received prior to Election Day.

These results are cumulative, and updates are released throughout the night. The first results will be posted by 8:30 p.m. on Election Night.

Election Night ballot counting continues until all in-person ballots cast at polling places have been counted. Though ballot counting may be completed for the night, the Registrar of Voters will continue to process and count additional ballots in the weeks following the election.

What happens after Election Day?

The canvass for the 2025 Statewide Special Election begins November 5, and the results will be certified by the Registrar of Voters on December 2, 2025.

When will the election results in California be “certified?”

The Registrar of Voters must certify election results on December 2. The California Secretary of State is required to certify election results no later than December 12.3