Department of Elections
City and County of San Francisco
John Arntz, Director
For Immediate Release
SAN FRANCISCO, Monday, October 28, 2024 – On Election Night, the Department of Elections will begin reporting preliminary election results for the November 5, 2024, Consolidated General Election.
All results released on Election Night are preliminary and vote totals will change with each preliminary results report the Department releases in the following days. The Department expects to receive over 100,000 ballots on and after Election Day that will require review and processing.
These ballots will include vote-by-mail ballots that voters delivered to polling places, provisional ballots cast on Election Day, vote-by-mail ballots postmarked by November 5 and received within seven days of Election Day, and challenged vote-by-mail ballots that voters successfully resolve prior to certification.
In accordance with a recently implemented state elections law, the Department will issue certified election results no earlier than December 3.
Election Night
After the polls close, the Department will issue four preliminary election results reports. The Department will release the first report at approximately 8:45 p.m. and which will include results from the majority of vote-by-mail ballots received before Election Day. The Department will issue the second and third reports at approximately 9:45 p.m. and 10:45 p.m., respectively and which will add votes cast at the polling places. The fourth report, including all Election Day polling place results, will be issued as soon as all 514 precincts have reported.
These results will be posted on sfelections.gov/results. Hard copies of the results summary will be available in City Hall, Room 48 and the North Light Court. Director John Arntz will be available to address questions from the media and the public upon the release of all results reports.
SFGTV, Channel 26, will display election results throughout the evening as a ticker at the bottom of the screen.
Post-Election Canvass Period
On Wednesday, November 6, the Department will post the approximate number of ballots to be reviewed and counted and will update that number daily.
The first post-Election Day preliminary election results report will be posted at 4 p.m. on Thursday, November 7. (No results reports will be issued on Wednesday, November 6.)
On each ballot processing day during the canvass period, the Department will release results reports at approximately 4 p.m., and Director John Arntz will be available for public questions outside Room 48 in City Hall. (On days when the Department does not count ballots, a notice will be posted on sfelections.gov.)
Additionally, the Department will issue regular press releases regarding preliminary election results and the number of ballots remaining to be counted. Individuals can sign up to receive press releases from the Department at sfelections.gov/trustedinfo.
Final Results
The Department will certify the local results of the November 5 Election and release final election results on its website and through a press release no later than December 5, 2024.
By law, the Department has 30 days, officially referred to as the “canvass period,” to count every valid ballot and conduct a post-election audit. During this time, the Department will perform a public 1% manual tally and a risk-limiting audit of the ballots tabulated by the voting system to verify the accuracy of the machine count.
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Department of Elections
City and County of San Francisco
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
City Hall, Room 48
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 554-4375
sfelections.gov