How Many Voters Are in California? Voting Population Revealed Amid Recall
As the vote count for the California recall election held on September 14 continues, Gov. Gavin Newsom is the projected winner.
The recall election saw millions of voters be asked whether they want the governor removed from office. A majority vote is required to remove Newsom from office.
As of September 15, 2:55 a.m. local time, around 64 percent of voters statewide were reported to have responded "no" to the recall question, according to the latest "unofficial" election results posted on the website of the California Secretary of State (SOS), who oversees recalls of state officers, including the governor.
The results are unofficial as they must be certified by the SOS. The results will be certified by October 22.
The latest 64 percent figure is based on all precincts across the state having at least partially reported their results at the time of publishing.
Some counties may indicate a precinct as having reported results even if only one ballot from that precinct has been counted, which is why the SOS data specifies precincts as "partially" reporting.
The SOS website explains: "Precincts are listed as partially reporting since vote-by-mail, provisional, and other ballots will continue to be processed and counted after Election Night."
The Associated Press reported Wednesday that Newsom led the election by a 30-point margin, which is likely to shrink as more votes are counted over coming days, but that the governor's lead could not be overcome.
How Many Voters Are There in California?
There are 22,057,610 registered voters across the 18,185 precincts of California's 58 counties.
How Many Voted in the California Recall Election?
According to the latest data on the SOS website, 9,176,526 ballots have been reported statewide so far in the California recall election, at the time of reporting.
That currently amounts to around 41 percent of the state's voting population, as of 2:55 a.m. local time on September 15, according to the SOS website.
The current voter turnout figure is lower than the percentages reported for elections held in California from November 2006, including the gubernatorial election in November 2018 (which saw 64.54 percent of California's registered voters cast a ballot) and the U.S. presidential election in November 2016 (for which 75.27 percent of the state's voting population cast a vote), according to data from the SOS website.
When Will We Know the Final Recall Election Results?
As mandated by California state law, county election officials were required to send their first batch of results to the SOS within two hours after the polls closed at 8 p.m. local time on September 14.
Depending on the type of ballot, it can take up to 30 days for county election officials to verify voter records and determine whether the ballots were cast by eligible voters.
County election officials must report their county's results to the SOS by October 15. Once the final results have been submitted by each county, the SOS will compile all the results and certify them by October 22.
See the SOS website for updates on the latest recall election results by county and precinct.
