More than 121,000 Fresno County voters have already returned their ballots with Election Day one day away, continuing a late surge in voting after returns initially lagged.

Fresno County officials reported that 121,460 ballots have been turned in, according to election documents updated Sunday evening.

That represents about 23% of the county’s roughly 529,000 registered voters and marks a sharp increase from fewer than 79,000 ballots returned one week earlier, when turnout stood at about 14.9%.

Separate ballot-tracking data from Political Data Inc., which can lag behind the county’s official totals, showed 110,791 ballots returned as of Monday. The tracker lists 529,291 ballots mailed countywide, putting its measured return rate at about 21%.

The partisan breakdown of returned ballots remains closely divided.

Who Is Voting More in Fresno County?

According to the tracker, registered Democrats have returned 45,983 ballots in Fresno County, accounting for about 42% of ballots recorded in the dataset. Republicans have returned 44,006, or about 40%, while voters registered with no party preference or another party have returned 20,802, accounting for about 19%.

Republicans continue to have the highest return rate within their registration group. About 26% of ballots mailed to registered Republicans have been returned, compared with 23% among Democrats, and 13% among no-party-preference and other voters.

Those figures describe voters by party registration and do not indicate which candidates or ballot measures they supported.

The partisan gap has remained narrow throughout the final week of voting. On Thursday, Democrats accounted for about 41% of Fresno County’s returned ballots and Republicans about 40%. At that point, Republicans also held the higher return rate, with 23% of their ballots returned compared with 21% among Democrats.

Ballot Returns Accelerate in Final Days

The county’s official total has climbed rapidly as Election Day approaches.

Fresno County reported 100,393 ballots received through Thursday, meaning the official count has increased by more than 21,000 ballots since then. The county had received more than 108,000 ballots by Friday.

The acceleration follows concerns earlier in the election that voters were holding onto their ballots longer than in previous gubernatorial elections.

Fresno County Clerk and Registrar of Voters James Kus told GV Wire last week that a large late wave of ballots could slow the reporting of results if returns exceeded the county’s immediate processing capacity.

By Thursday, however, Fresno County’s return pace had moved ahead of the comparable point in the 2022 midterm election. The county had 99,120 ballots recorded by Political Data through Thursday, about 15,000 more than the 84,120 returned at the comparable point four years earlier.

As of Monday, Fresno County has 19,714 more votes than it did in 2022 a day before the election.

Fresno, Clovis Show Different Partisan Patterns

Within the city of Fresno, the latest tracker data show 54,656 of 275,618 ballots returned, for a return rate of about 20%.

Democrats account for 25,233 returned ballots, or 46% of the city’s total. Republicans have returned 18,537 ballots, or 34%, while no-party-preference and other voters account for 10,886, or 20%.

Republican voters have a higher return rate despite accounting for fewer ballots overall. About 25% of ballots mailed to Fresno Republicans have been returned, compared with 22% among Democrats and 12% among other voters.

Clovis continues to show a markedly different partisan composition.

The tracker shows 19,397 of 79,739 ballots returned in Clovis, for an overall rate of about 24%.

Republicans account for 9,712 returned ballots, or 50% of the city’s total. Democrats account for 6,229, or 32%, and no-party-preference and other voters account for 3,456, or 18%.

About 28% of ballots mailed to Clovis Republicans have been returned, compared with 27% among Democrats and 16% among other voters.

Those shares are broadly consistent with the pattern seen late last week, when Republicans also accounted for 50% of Clovis returns.

California Returns Top 5.3 Million

Statewide, Political Data‘s latest figures show more than 5.38 million of California’s approximately 23.2 million ballots returned, or about 23%.

Democrats account for about 2.73 million of those ballots, or 51% of statewide returns. Republicans account for about 1.51 million, or 28%, while no-party-preference and other voters account for approximately 1.14 million, or 21%.

Democrats and Republicans each have returned about 26% of the ballots mailed to voters registered with their respective parties, while the rate among other voters stands at about 16%.

Where to Vote?

Fresno County voters who have not yet cast their ballots still have several options.

The county has 54 vote centers operating countywide after 43 additional locations opened Saturday, joining 11 centers that had been open since Oct. 24. Fresno County also has 69 official ballot drop boxes.

Vote centers are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday. On Election Day, all locations will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Fresno County uses a vote center system, allowing registered voters to cast their ballots at any vote center in the county rather than being assigned to a single neighborhood polling place.

Ballots can also be returned to an official drop box through 8 p.m. Tuesday. Vote-by-mail ballots sent through the Postal Service must be postmarked by Election Day and received by county election officials no later than Nov. 10 to be eligible for counting.

The county’s first semifinal election results will be released after polls close at 8 p.m. Tuesday. Ballots received closer to Election Day will continue to be verified and counted afterward.

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