152 new vote centers open for Orange County midterms

The Orange County Registrar of Voters opened 152 additional vote centers on Friday, Oct. 31. These new sites join 39 locations that have been open since Oct. 24, bringing the total to 191. All centers are available for voters who want to cast ballots in person or drop off completed mail-in ballots.

The expanded network aims to provide more options as the 2026 midterm election approaches. Voters can also request replacement ballots and receive voting assistance at any of the 191 sites. The registrar's office stated that these services are available at every location.

Vote centers will operate from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. On Tuesday, Election Day, the hours extend from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voters can locate their nearest site at ocvote.gov/elections/vote-center-locations.

Two temporary pop-up vote centers will also operate this week. One is scheduled for Saturday at CREER Comunidad y Familia at 31322 Camino Capistrano in San Juan Capistrano. The other will take place Monday at AltaMed Medical Group at 2720 S. Bristol St., Ste. 110 in Santa Ana. Both events will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and include the office's mobile voting unit.

More than 128 ballot drop boxes are available across the county for those who prefer to return mail-in ballots later. The registrar's office sent ballots to nearly 2 million registered voters earlier this month. As of Friday afternoon, 451,000 of those ballots have been returned.

Early voting results will first appear on the registrar's website at 8:05 p.m. on Nov. 3. The office will post a second batch of results at 9:30 p.m. Additional updates will follow every 30 minutes until all ballots from the vote centers are counted.