In California, certification of an election essentially means that elections officials have completed a number of reports that show that the canvass is finished and election results have been finalized. While other states might have another body that performs this function, in California, the Registrar of Voters officially certifies the election.

County elections officials have 30 days to certify an election. However, in presidential election years, presidential electors must cast their votes and the results must then be sent to the National Archives and to Congress, so the timeline for certification of presidential results is shortened to 28 days.

To certify the election, officials must complete the elections canvass. In other words, they must complete the following activities:

• An inspection of all materials and supplies returned by poll workers.
• A reconciliation of the number of signatures on the precinct roster with the number of ballots recorded on the ballot statement.
• In the event of a discrepancy in the reconciliation of signatures, the number of ballots received from each vote center must be reconciled with the number of ballots cast, as indicated on the ballot statement.
• A reconciliation of the number of ballots counted, spoiled, canceled, or invalidated due to identifying marks, overvotes, or other reason, with the number of votes recorded by the vote counting system.
• Processing and counting any valid vote-by-mail and provisional ballots not included in Election Night results.
• Counting any valid write-in votes.
• Reproducing any damaged ballots, if necessary.
• Reporting final results to the county Board of Supervisors and the Secretary of State, as required.

Voters are also given time to cure any missing or mismatched signature from their vote-by-mail ballot--the deadline is 2 days prior to certification.

The entire elections canvass is open to the public. We even had a live stream of our office for those who wished to observe from their homes!

In addition to the activities listed above, our office also spends time making sure that all voting history is sent up to VoteCal, the statewide database of voters, and that any discrepancies within the county or that are shared between counties are resolved to the fullest extent possible. That history includes the number of ballots that could not be delivered to voters due to an address change or other reason provided by an official source like the US Postal Service. It is an important part of the voter registration list maintenance activities that we perform daily.

Typically, Nevada County completes certification activities approximately 2 - 2 1/2 weeks after the election. For the November 5, 2024 General Election, our office was slower to count due to a printer's error on the ballot barcodes. But the good news is that our plan to overcome that printer error worked and most counting activities were completed before the Thanksgiving holiday.

The final steps in the county process are 1) to present results to the Board of Supervisors, who may accept the results of local contests and 2) to provide certificates of election to all winning candidates.