Results Reporting Schedule

People viewing election results on a TV

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On Election Night, the Department of Elections releases several summary reports of election results. These results are preliminary, as there are still ballots that the Department processes after Election Day, including:

  • Vote-by-mail ballots that are dropped off at the City Hall Voting Center, drop-off stations or polling places
  • Vote-by-mail ballots postmarked by Election Day and received within seven days of Election Day
  • Ballots cast at the City Hall Voting Center during Conditional Voter Registration period
  • Unsigned vote-by-mail ballots that are remedied by voters no later than two days prior to the certification of election results
  • Provisional ballots
  • Ballots with write-in votes

The processing of ballots is open to public observation, either in person at the Department’s office in City Hall or by watching the live streaming of election activities on the Observe the Election Process page. Results become final after all ballots have been processed and the Department certifies the election.

Reporting Preliminary Results

The Department begins reporting preliminary results on election night after all polling places have closed

Reporting Preliminary Results after the Close of Polls on Election Night

The Department will release the first preliminary summary report of election results at approximately 8:45 p.m. This report will provide the results from the vote-by-mail ballots that the Department received and processed before Election Day. With this first summary report, the Department will also release a preliminary Statement of the Vote, ranked-choice reports, and Cast Vote Record data.

At approximately 9:45 p.m., the Department will release a second summary report of results. The second report will add the initial votes received from polling places to the votes reported in the first results report. At approximately 10:45 p.m., the Department will issue a third summary results report that will add more votes from polling places received since the previous report . After all polling places have reported, the Department will release a final summary report as well as a second preliminary Statement of the Vote, ranked-choice reports, and Cast Vote Record data.

Reporting Preliminary Results after Election Day

Ballot processing continues after Election Day until the Department has counted the eligible votes on all ballots. Every day that ballots are counted, the Department releases updated results reports at approximately 4p.m. On days in which ballots are not counted, the Department will issue a press release stating that no results reports will be issued for that day.

Types and File Formats of Preliminary Results Reports

During the first and last reports on Election Night, and at 4 p.m. on any day after Election Day during which ballots are counted, the Department will release the following reports:

  • Statement of the Vote, showing a precinct-by-precinct breakdown of votes cast at polling places and by mail, including neighborhood and district breakdowns in the following formats:
    • PDF
    • Excel
    • XML
  • Reports for all ranked-choice voting contests, including those contests for which there are majority leaders, showing elimination of candidates until only two candidates remain, in the following formats:
    • Round-by-round elimination reports in PDF, Excel, and XML formats
    • Detailed round-by-round elimination reports in PDF, Excel, and XML formats
    • Detailed round-by-round elimination reports in PDF format
  • Cast Vote Record is the raw data of all votes cast in the election, available in JSON format

The Department will apply a SHA-512 cryptographic function to create hash values for each report. This process is verification that the results posted on the Department’s website are reliable and have not been changed.

Reporting Final Results

The Department will release final election results no later than the end of the canvass period as required by the state election law. After certifying the election results, the Department will deliver the certified statement of the results and associated attachments to the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors and the Secretary of State, and will post the documents on sfelections.org. As with preliminary election results, the Department will apply a SHA-512 cryptographic function to create hash values for each report. This process is verification that the results posted on the Department’s website are reliable and have not been changed.

Additionally, the Department will post the final results outside the Department’s office, City Hall, Room 48, as well as issue a press release and Twitter and Facebook notifications that the election results are certified.

Where to View Results

Election results will be available from the following sources:

  • Election Results Summary page on sfelections.org – all results reports, including the preliminary Statement of the Vote, the precinct turnout, and the neighborhood turnout, will be posted on the Department’s website and a link to statewide results on the Secretary of State’s website will be provided
  • San Francisco Government Television – SFGTV, Channel 26, will report San Francisco summary results on Election night as a banner during SFGTV programming
  • City Hall, North Light Court on Election Night – a large screen will display SFGTV programming that will show San Francisco summary results; printed copies of the summary results report will be available at approximately 8:45 p.m., with updates available at approximately 9:45 p.m., 10:45 p.m., and 11:30 p.m.
  • Department of Elections, City Hall, Room 48 – printed copies of results reports will be available at the Department’s front counter (the preliminary Statement of the Vote will not be printed due to its length)
  • On social media at: Twitter @sfelections and Facebook.com/sfelections