Local & Community
Election Season Underway in Riverside County as Ballots Hit Mailboxes
Election season is officially underway in Riverside County, with ballots now being mailed to roughly 1.4 million registered voters.
With Election Day less than a month away, voters are beginning the process of deciding which candidates and measures will earn their support. We asked Riverside County voters how prepared they feel to fill out their ballots.
If previous elections are any indication, most Riverside County voters will likely vote by mail rather than cast their ballots in person.
During the 2024 General Election, nearly 800,000 vote-by-mail ballots were cast in Riverside County, compared with roughly 159,000 ballots cast at voting locations.
That means about 83% of ballots were cast by mail.
But the way voters return their ballots has become part of a broader national discussion about confidence in elections. Recent polling shows 58% of registered voters say they are confident in the mail-in voting system, down from 71% in 2024.
For voters concerned about what happens after they turn in their ballot, the Riverside County Registrar of Voters says the process includes several steps to verify each ballot. Ballots returned by mail or through a secure drop box can begin being processed once they are received by election officials.
Election workers verify the signature on the return envelope. If there is a problem with the signature, voters can be contacted and given an opportunity to correct the issue.
Voters can also track their ballot through California's Where's My Ballot? system.
The service allows voters to sign up for text, email or voice notifications that provide updates on when their ballot is mailed, when it is received by the county and whether it has been accepted or rejected. With ballots now arriving in mailboxes across Riverside County, voters have officially entered the final stretch before Election Day — and for many, the decision-making process starts now.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta recently addressed concerns about election security, outlining the legal protections in place to safeguard voters and their ballots.
By: Alondra Campos
October 5, 2026
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