KQED61%
My Ballot Never Showed Up. How Can I Still Vote in the 2026 California Primary? 17%
By Guy Marzorati71%
5/22/2026, 4:00:32 AM
Topics: California, Local Politics
BS Summary: This article contains 24 faulty reasoning types, including Anchoring Bias, Overconfidence Bias, and Biased Writer Voice, with Indoctrination as the most egregious example at 33.8% saturation with 324 hits. Analysis detected 1,453 faulty-reasoning hits from 958 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 32.7% and a BS Rank of 17% (18,198 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 83.10% of the article peer group.
Election Day — your last day to vote — is less than two weeks away, on Tuesday, June 2.
And every registered California voter will receive a mail-in ballot.
But what if your ballot still hasn’t shown up yet?
The deadline for Bay Area counties to start mailing out their ballots was May 4, so if you’re registered to vote, your ballot should have shown up by now.
But don’t worry: You have time — and several options — to fix things and make sure you get to cast your vote by the time polls close at 8 p.m. on June 2.
Looking for information about what’s on your ballot instead?
Take a look at KQED’s Voter Guide, including information about California’s governor race.
And if you’ve made a mistake on your ballot, we also have a guide to how to address different kinds of ballot — and signature — goofs.
Jump straight to: What’s the quickest way to get a replacement ballot?
First, check if your voter registration is correct — and if your ballot was actually sent out
Input your details on the Secretary of State’s voter status page to check your registration status.
This site will show whether you’re correctly registered to vote and to which address.
It should also show whether your ballot was mailed out.
Read our guide to making sure you’re correctly registered to vote.
You can also use the Where’s My Ballot?
Tool to check whether your ballot has been sent.
Finding out if your voter registration is correct will help you determine next steps in getting your ballot:
If your ballot was sent to the wrong address
If it turns out your ballot was missing because your voter registration wasn’t updated, don’t feel bad — people move all the time and forget to update their registrations accordingly.
The deadline to update your voter registration online using the secretary of state’s voter status page was May 18.
But if you missed that date, you can still re-register with your new address in person through Same Day Registration (also called “conditional registration”).
You can do this in person right up until when polls close on 8 p.m. on Election Day, June 2.
You can re-register to vote at your county elections office during business hours, which is now open for early voting.
You can also ask for Same Day Registration at an open voting location near you.
The first vote centers open May 23 in certain counties, with more early voting locations opening May 30.
When you do this, your county will cancel the ballot that went to your old address and give you a new one to vote with.
Read more about registering (or re-registering) to vote in person.
If your voter registration address was correct, but your ballot never showed up
If it’s more than six days before Election Day, you can just call your county elections office and ask them to send a new ballot.
Scroll to the bottom of this story to find your Bay Area county elections office.
Your county elections office won’t mail you a ballot six days or less before Election Day because it can’t be sure the ballot will reach you in time.
So, if you’re trying to get a ballot in the immediate run-up to Election Day, go to your county elections office in person and request one at the counter.
Your county elections office is also already open for early voting through Election Day, so you could also go there and vote in person at the same time.
More early voting locations will be opening throughout May.
And remember, if you’re not actually registered to vote or need to re-register to update details like your address or your legal name, you always have the option of Same Day Registration at an open voting location, where you can then fill out and submit your ballot, too.
If your ballot showed up, but it has your former name on it
If you’ve legally changed your name since you last voted in California, you’ll need to re-register to vote with your current (new) name.
The deadline to update your voter registration online using the Secretary of State’s voter status page was May 18, and if you missed that date, you’ll need to re-register with your new address in person through Same Day Registration (also called “conditional registration”).
You can do this in person right up until polls close at 8 p.m. on Election Day.
You can re-register to vote at your county elections office during business hours, which is now open for early voting.
You can also ask for Same Day Registration at an open voting location near you when many early voting locations open around the Bay Area on May 23.
Read more about how to find your closest voting location.
How to contact your county directly about voting
Across the Bay Area, elections officials are encouraging voters to reach out — early — with any questions or concerns.
Here’s the contact information for your county:
Alameda: For information about voting by mail, registration and polling place lookup, call 510-267-8683.
Contra Costa: Call 925-335-7800 or email voter.services@vote.cccounty.us.
Marin: Call 415-473-6456 or go to the Marin County elections webpage to send a form email.
Napa: Call 707-253-4321 or email the elections office at elections@countyofnapa.org.
San Francisco: Call 415-554-4375 or email sfvote@sfgov.org.
San Mateo: Call 888-762-8683 or email registrar@smcacre.org.
Santa Clara: Call toll-free at 866-430-VOTE (8683) or email registrar@rov.sccgov.org.
Solano: Call 707-784-6675 or 888-933-VOTE (8683).
You can also email elections@solanocounty.com.
Sonoma: Call 707-565-6800 or toll-free at 800-750-8683.
The state also has a full list of every county elections office in California.
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Analysis
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