Forget election night. Election season has started for a few weeks now, but it won't be ending anytime soon.

California's extraordinary introduction of voting by mail has done more than fundamentally change how we engage in the democratic process. This change has also required a cultural reconfiguration of election night results, and many campaigns have had to reset the timelines for learning results.

The final answer may only be revealed in the most lopsided contest by late Tuesday night. And some of the closest races can take days or even weeks for definitive results.

But don't worry. Such relatively slow voting counts are a feature of a functioning democratic system, not a bug.

“What I think people often don’t understand about California’s election process is that the Legislature has intentionally given voters every opportunity to vote and vote,” said Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder. Stated. County Clerk Dean Logan, who serves as the county's elections director.

The state has seen decades of efforts to provide voters with more choices and protections, making it easier to vote here than almost anywhere else in the country. But flipping that equation means more time-consuming work for election officials.

Think of it this way. When Californians come to a vote center to vote in person, all verification is done up front at the vote center, as was once the norm. Once your ballot arrives for counting, no additional steps are required.

However, mail-in ballots must be verified and processed before being counted, which takes significantly longer. Now imagine receiving hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots at once on or shortly after Election Day.

This stampede of ballots creates what Kim Alexander of the California Voter Foundation calls “the 'pigs in the python' phenomenon, where huge bundles of ballots just go through the process.”

“The reason it takes so long is because we are verifying every ballot and making sure only valid ballots are counted,” Alexander said. told the Times during Last statewide election. “So it’s a function of election security, just election security.” [that] That's what those who criticize the delay in counting votes are demanding. ”

When will we know the election results?

This is a seemingly complex question.

Let's start with the easy part. California has 58 counties, each of which has an election office that counts votes for federal, state, and local elections within its jurisdiction. In the last presidential primary election in 2020, More than 9.6 million votes were cast in California.

In Los Angeles County, home to one in four California voters, the long-awaited first round of results will be released by the Registrar-Recorder's Office between 8:30 and 8:45 on election night. The first wave includes only previously received mail-in ballots. Election day.

The office said the second result, which adds up votes cast in person at polling stations before Election Day, is expected to be announced between 8:45 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Results of votes cast in person on Election Day will begin to be announced after 9 p.m., Updates will occur early in the morning. (After polls close at 8 p.m., it will take longer because ballots cast at Vote Centers on Election Day must be moved to the county facility in Industrial City before being counted.)

The Registrar-Recorder's Office says that for the next two weeks after Election Day, updates will be released every weekday between 4 and 5 p.m.

The Orange County Registrar of Voters plans to take similar action election night release schedule, Daily updates will follow.

Also note that mail-in ballots dropped into mailboxes on or just before Election Day may take several days to arrive. California law requires that ballots postmarked by Election Day must be received for up to seven days, so the total number of votes cast will not be known until next week.

“Ultimately, we plan to certify the election results on March 29,” Logan, the Los Angeles County elections director, said with a laugh. “That's when all the votes will be counted and we'll know what the final return will be.”

OK, that's the literal schedule. But when will we get meaningful answers?

It really depends on the contest in question

Paul Mitchell, a Democratic strategist and political data expert, said the results of some big races, such as the Senate race and Proposition 1, Gov. Gavin Newsom's statewide ballot measure, are actually expected to be known on election night.

The dynamics of the primary, in which the two candidates with the most votes advance to a runoff in the general election on Nov. 5, rather than a clear winner being declared, also contributes to the “slow election result.” This may dampen the awareness that Mitchell said.

Mitchell explained that even though it may take some time to determine who will participate in the runoff in some elections, the top candidate in many primaries will be known by election night. did.

Consider the crowded race for Los Angeles County District Attorney. Incumbent prosecutor George Gascón is almost certain to finish in first place, until enough votes are counted to determine which of the 11 challengers will face him in the November runoff. It may take several days to several weeks.

Fernando Guerra, director of the Los Angeles Research Center at Loyola Marymount University, also thought the outcome of Proposition 1 would be known on election night. However, a political science professor predicted that it may take a day or two before the runner-up in the Senate race is definitely known.

Partisan House districts where both parties are already rallying around candidates, such as the 27th Congressional District in northern Los Angeles County, where incumbent Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Santa Clarita) is facing off against Democratic challenger George Whitesides. Elections are likely to be called soon. After voting ends.

But results from the more competitive House primary could take days or weeks to come back.

Where will my ballot be sent to be processed and counted in Los Angeles County?

Hundreds of employees have already been processing mail-in ballots for weeks at the sprawling 144,000-square-foot facility adjacent to the 60 Freeway in the City of Industry. This building previously housed a Fry's Electronics store. giant blue and red decorative gears What once covered the facade was removed after the county took over.

The internal operations are something between a factory floor and a highly choreographed ballet of specific tasks, but the actual counting of votes doesn't begin until after 8 p.m. on election night.

See the action as it happens on some live streams. (This is the first year that the same facility has been used for both processing and counting. Previously, mail-in ballots were processed at Industrial City and then trucked to another facility in Downey to be counted.) (had to be exposed). )

In a county that spans more than 4,000 square miles, transporting ballots to industrial city facilities on Election Day is also a massive logistical effort. After voting closes, Vote Center staff will bring the ballots to a designated check-in center, where Security Office staff will collect the ballots and Security Office staff will deliver them to Industrial City.

The Sheriff's Department will also operate helicopters from seven different locations to deliver ballots from far-flung parts of the county. Logan said sheriff's boats, helicopters and seaplanes will transport ballots from Catalina Island to the mainland, but transportation is dependent on weather conditions.

More than 400 employees will also be waiting outside. vote-by-mail drop box Logan said ballots will be locked up throughout the county at 8 p.m., after which another worker will transport them to the City Industrial City facility.