Orange County Registrar of Voters

Countdown to Voting – Vote-By-Mail Printing

Voting for the 2026 Statewide Direct Primary Election will open in 20 days!

A Vote-By-Mail ballot will be mailed to all Orange County voters starting no later than Monday, May 4, marking the start of the voting period.

Registrar of Voters (ROV) has started to print about 1.9 million ballots for this election. Last week, we issued about 10,000 ballots to military and overseas voters.

Orange County Printing & Graphics department is certified by the Secretary of State to print Vote-By-Mail ballots. OC ROV is the only Registrar in California with this certification, which must be renewed every two years.

Printing ballots in-house enables ROV to better ensure the quality and security of Vote-By-Mail ballots. To learn more, you can watch our video “A Deeper Look – How Ballots Are Securely Printed and Distributed” on our YouTube channel at @ocrov.

Vote Easy. Vote Secure.

Bob Page
Registrar of Voters

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Orange County Registrar of Voters Bob Page speaks with Amrit Singh on Spectrum News 1’s...

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Long Ballot

For the 2026 Statewide Direct Primary Election, voters may notice a ballot longer than in previous years. The expanded 17-inch length is due to 61 gubernatorial candidates qualifying for placement on the ballot.

To meet the May 4 ballot mailing deadline, ROV operations—including warehouse, IT, Printing and Graphics teams—have ramped up preparations. Efforts include ordering additional supplies such as ink and ballot paper, testing printing and insertion equipment, and recalculating production timelines to accommodate approximately 1.9 million ballots, each now three to six inches longer than recent elections.

The increased ballot size requires more time to print and prepare ballots for mailing. ROV’s mail inserting equipment is operating at roughly one-third of its normal speed to cut, fold, and insert ballots into envelopes. In response, ROV added a third inserting team and extended work hours for each team to maintain production targets, ensuring Orange County voters will receive their ballots on time and accurately.

AirTalk Radio

Registrar Bob Page was recently interviewed by Larry Mantle for LAist’s AirTalk radio program. The Registrar discussed:

California’s 2026 Statewide Primary Election,
ongoing efforts in Washington, D.C., to change how elections are conducted, and
California’s top-two primary system, in which the two highest vote-getters advance regardless of party.

Listen to the replay now by visiting laist.com/.../ca-governors-race-president-trump... and scrolling down to the piece titled “Trump signs order attempting to stymie mail voting.”

Election Science Office Hours

Registrar Bob Page recently joined Professor Michael Alvarez of the Linde Center for Science, Society, and Policy at California Institute of Technology for a featured Election Science Office Hours webinar, now available for on-demand viewing on YouTube at youtube.com/@LCSSPCALTECH or listening to the “Election Science Office Hours” show on Apple Podcast and Spotify.

Titled “The Scale of Democracy: Managing the Fifth-Largest Voting Jurisdiction in the Country,” the April 8 discussion highlighted the scope and complexity of administering elections for Orange County’s 1.9 million registered voters. During the conversation, Page shared insights into his transition from investigative journalism to government and election administration and discussed his commitment to ensuring elections remain accessible, secure, and transparent.

Young Voter Signatures

If voters change how they sign their name after they register to vote, their Vote-By-Mail ballots may not be counted. This is especially true for young voters.

In the 2024 Presidential General Election:

Nearly 6% of young Vote-By-Mail voters in Orange County voting in their first Presidential Election (ages 18 to 21) had their ballots challenged — the highest rate of any age group

Only 41.5% of these young Orange County voters cured a challenge to their Vote-By-Mail ballot — the lowest rate of any age group

The potential reasons young voters' Vote-By-Mail ballots are challenged at a high rate:

The only signature in the young voter’s registration file may be the electronic finger or stylus signature provided to the DMV

The young voter may not have perfected their signature until after registering to vote

The young voter carelessly scribbled their signature when registering to vote or on their Vote-By-Mail ballot envelope not realizing the importance of accuracy and consistency

The potential reasons young voters were least likely to cure a signature challenged Vote-By-Mail ballot:

In the Presidential General Election, the Vote-By-Mail ballots of 18- to 21-year-old voters were nearly four times more likely to arrive at the Registrar of Voters after Election Day than all voters casting a ballot

Voters mailed a cure notice before Election Day were more likely to cure their challenged Vote-By-Mail ballot than voters mailed a cure notice after Election Day


F O L L O W U S


S H A R E N E W S L E T T E R

Current Voter Registration
1,901,269

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