Placer County early election numbers show a 50% turnout
PLACER COUNTY, Calif. – Around half of the registered voters in Placer County have turned out for this election, according to the unofficial numbers from the Placer County Clerk-Recorder-Elections office.
Since voting centers opened on October 26, there have been approximately 34,000 ballots cast in person. A little over 106,000 vote-by-mail ballots have been returned and process, while about 7,700 vote-by-mail ballots await processing.
Placer County has 292,480 registered voters as of today, which puts current turnout at 50%.
Because Placer County adopted the Voter’s Choice Act last year, voters are no longer assigned a polling location and can visit any one of the 29 regional vote centers to cast their votes. For Tahoe, the location is the Old Firehouse on 300 N. Lake Blvd. in Tahoe City.
All vote centers in the county now use precinct tabulation, which allows vote centers to count mail-in ballots on site. This practice is now active in 21 of the 58 counties in California. In Placer County, the process is called “Sign, Scan & GO!” and voters can watch their vote-by-mail ballot be counted after signing in with election staff and confirming they haven’t already voted.
Stacy Robinson, public information officer of the Placer County Clerk-Recorder-Elections office, praised the transparency of the process, saying, “Voters love knowing their votes are included in election night results.”
Eligible voters can also return a signed vote-by-mail ballot by using one of the 31 official drop boxes, which can be found here: https://www.placercountyelections.gov/drop-box-locations/. Locations include Kings Beach Library on 301 Secline St., the Olympic Valley Public Service District Office at 305 Olympic Valley Road, the Truckee Tahoe Airport on 10356 Truckee Airport Road, and The Old Firehouse in Tahoe City.
Additionally, voters can still mail their ballot as long as it is postmarked by November 5 and received no later than November 12.
Election results will be available by 8 p.m. tonight on the Placer County website (https://www.placercountyelections.gov/election-results/) and will be updated every Tuesday and Friday until all votes are certified on December 3.
Eli Ramos is a reporter for Tahoe Daily Tribune. They are part of the 2024–26 cohort of California Local News Fellows through UC Berkeley.
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