In conclusion
In anticipation of Governor Gavin Newsom’s special election to redraw congressional districts for the 2026 midterm, California counties are rushing to get ready. Tens of millions of dollars will be spent on the endeavor.
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In theory, calling a statewide special election seems straightforward. But carrying one out with less than seventy-five days’ notice? “That’s a herculean effort,” one county election officer in California said.
Governor Gavin Newsom wants to reorganize the state’s congressional districts, and California voting officials are working feverishly behind the scenes to get ready for the special election this November. However, in order to accomplish this, Newsom must win support from voters in an off-year special election that the state has not yet formally approved and scheduled.
Democrats hope that by removing more Republican seats from red states like Texas, Florida, and Missouri, the new California maps will counteract President Donald Trump and Republicans’ attempts to slant the upcoming congressional election in the GOP’s advantage.
State lawmakers, who recently returned from a month-long summer break, have until Friday to approve the ballot language before voters in time for an election on November 4. Newsom only unveiled his proposed maps late last week.
In order to ensure that everything is locked down for voters on November 4, including locations for voting centers, suppliers to produce ballots, and election workers to staff those polling stations, county election officials are working as if the election were already taking place. Some have pointed out that they may have to reduce essential social and public safety services in the absence of new funding, and they have pushed hard for the state to pay for the high expenses of an unscheduled special election.
Being a smaller rural county, it’s challenging for us, even in a regular election, said Juan Pablo Cervantes, the registrar of voters for Humboldt County, which has little more than 85,000 registered voters. For a statewide election, Cervantes and his team typically have at least five months to locate polling places, recruit personnel, and acquire all the voting equipment, pens, and ballots.
According to Cervantes, that alone is typically an enormous undertaking.
A mad dash to find ballots and vote centers
Getting vendors to produce enough ballots—including one absentee ballot for each state voter who is registered—and enough to keep on hand for on-site voting at polling places is one of the largest problems facing counties. Only seven suppliers, except Orange County, which runs its own printing facility, have been authorized by the California secretary of state to produce ballots.
Finding enough locations to act as polling places and recruiting and educating personnel to operate them are the other two logistical challenges.
Orange County Registrar of Voters Bob Page convened an emergency planning meeting shortly after Newsom announced on July 31 that he would call a special election. Prioritizing items like ballot paper, ballot envelopes, and toner for their ballot printers that might not arrive in time to meet deadlines if they waited for official confirmation of a special election, he told them to determine which supplies they needed to acquire urgently.
Orange County would also be permitted to use those materials in the June primary election the following year, reducing the possibility of wasting taxpayer funds, should the governor decide to back out of his plan.
In order to ensure that I could pull this off, I had to decide that I couldn’t wait until August 22,” Page stated. I don’t want to find myself in a situation where my county is unable to have a free and fair election in any way.
In order to determine whether anyone would be interested in working at a voting center for the special election, the county also began sending emails to those who had previously worked as election workers.
California s last special election
In September 2021, Newsom rejected a recall campaign in California’s final short-notice, off-year statewide special election.
However, Page noted that counties had plenty of early warning signs to assist them prepare because the recall campaign was started by a signature drive rather than by an order from the state Legislature.
According to Page, we were aware when the number of signatures needed to force a recall election had been reached. When the legislature suggested trying to shorten the schedule and hold the recall election in August of that year instead of September, we were heavily involved.
County registrars summoned their vendors to testify that they did not have enough paper material to produce ballots in time for an August recall election, even while the Legislature worked out the specifics of the election date. Eventually, September 14 was chosen as the date.
How much will it cost?
Although official cost estimates for the statewide special election have not yet been released by the Legislature or the Department of Finance, experts predict that, given inflation, the cost of the recall will almost probably be exceeded by the special election on November 4.
In 2021, the state allocated over $240 million to counties and an extra $35 million to the secretary of state’s office for election administration. The challenge ended up costing less than anticipated, totaling over $200 million, with the counties’ expenses coming to slightly over $174 million.
Newsom has stated time and time again that the state will pay the high expenses counties will face in holding an unscheduled off-year statewide election. Nevertheless, county officials and even Assembly Republicans have published their own estimates in the lack of official statewide figures. According to the GOP caucus’ budget analysis, taxpayers would have to spend $235.5 million for the statewide campaign.
Depending on whether the ballot and county voter information guide have to be shipped separately or fit in the same envelope, Page predicted Orange County’s expenses would range from $11.2 million to $12.7 million. Fresno County was preparing for at least $4 million in unbudgeted expenses, while Riverside County’s registrar estimated costs of up to $15 million.
Instead of paying them back after the election, the counties have pleaded with state leaders to give them money now.
The California State Association of Counties, which represents county supervisors, in collaboration with its subsidiary organization that represents clerks and registrars, wrote that counties would bear nearly all of the additional costs associated with a statewide special election, placing a heavy and unfunded financial burden on already stretched local budgets.
Although the agency has not yet decided on the exact amount, H.D. Palmer, spokesman for the agency of Finance, stated that the legislation will give the funds to counties ahead of time, similar to how it did in 2021 prior to the gubernatorial recall election.
At a news conference last week, Newsom dismissed county registrars’ worries about how they would afford to conduct the election as being utterly false and declared that the state of California will cover the costs.
According to Newsom, democracy has no cost.
Additionally, the governor said that, in contrast to the recall election, a number of counties have already scheduled local off-year elections and are able to include the redistricting topic on the current ballot. According to the Secretary of State’s website, as of Monday, just 21 counties have elections set for November 4.
Cervantes, however, stressed that it makes a huge difference whether the state pays up front or requires counties to submit bills for reimbursement. Cervantes expects his county will incur at least $700,000 in additional costs. Until he gets the state’s check in the mail, his vendors won’t let him postpone payment.
Cervantes pointed out that counties use the same pool of monies that support district attorney offices, sheriff’s agencies, county jails, and certain local wildfire control initiatives to pay for elections administration. That s why it s so important for the state to cover the costs, he argued.
You’re discussing removing deputies off the streets. You’re discussing cutting back on social services. Cervantes remarked, “It’s a zero-sum game.” Other departments won’t be able to if I have to spend that money.
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