Santa Barbara County received more than 2,600 late mailed ballots in November 2025, which was 14 times as many late-and-uncounted ballots compared with the previous year’s election.

Late ballots include vote-by-mail ballots postmarked after Election Day and all ballots delivered to the Elections Office eight days or more after Election Day, according to Martin Cobos, the county’s chief deputy registrar of voters. 

The increase in late ballots can be partially attributed to changes at the U.S. Postal Service, and elections officials urge voters to mail ballots early for upcoming June and November elections to ensure they arrive on time to be counted. 

“We are always concerned about voters allowing enough time for the Postal Service to deliver ballots to the Elections Division,” Cobos said. “Mail your ballots early. We include materials with ballots urging voters to mail their ballots early.” 

The county’s late ballots increased from 1.1 per 1,000 ballots in the November 2024 election to 20.6 per 1,000 ballots in the November 2025 election, according to secretary of state numbers. 

Statewide vote-by-mail ballots in the Proposition 50 election arrived too late at four times the rate of the 2024 general presidential election, according to Los Angeles Times reporting.

Santa Barbara County’s increased rate is among the worst in the state.

That happened after service changes at the Postal Service. 

“Mail dropped off at post offices and mail collection boxes more than 50 miles from a U.S. Postal Service regional hub is collected the next day, instead of the same day,” state officials said in an October 2025 press release highlighting the issue. 

“This means that, in some areas, ballots dropped off at a post office or mail collection box on Election Day won’t be postmarked until the day after, making them late. Late ballots are not counted.

“Californians are encouraged to drop off their ballots a day, or a few days, before Election Day.”

The USPS advised mailing ballots at least a week before the Elections Office needs to receive them. 

Counties farther away from those major processing centers, including Santa Barbara, had higher rates of late ballots than closer communities, according to the secretary of state data.  

Cobos told Noozhawk that the County Elections Office received 179 late vote-by-mail ballots in the Nov. 5, 2024, election. It received 2,647 late ballots in the Nov. 4, 2025, election. 

The county did not track late ballots by specific area of the county, Cobos said. 

The large increase in late ballots came as the county had a similar number of people mailing their ballots via USPS: 56,965 in 2024 and 59,359 people in 2025, according to the Elections Office. 

The vast majority of county voters use vote-by-mail ballots, which can be returned by mail, or dropped off at a polling place, elections office or drop box. 

The November 2025 election had Proposition 50 on the ballot, which authorized temporary changes to congressional district maps. 

Santa Barbara County had 55% voter turnout, with 138,104 ballots cast. Of those, 90.45% of them were vote-by-mail ballots, according to the Elections Office. 

The November 2024 presidential general election had federal, state and local offices on the ballot as well as bond measures.  

Santa Barbara County had 76.7% voter turnout, with 187,876 ballots cast. Of those, 86.6% were vote-by-mail ballots. 

Ways to Return Vote-by-Mail Ballots

• Mail it early (multiple days before Election Day) or bring it to the post office to get a postmark
• Bring your vote-by-mail ballot to a County Elections drop box before 8 p.m. on Election Day
• Bring your vote-by-mail ballot to an Elections Office building in Santa Barbara, Lompoc or Santa Maria before 8 p.m. on Election Day
• Bring your vote-by-mail ballot to a polling place before 8 p.m. on Election Day 

You can track your ballot to see when it is received by the County Elections Office and counted.

The county recently removed a ballot drop box from Guadalupe, but is scheduling it to be installed before the June 2 election, Cobos said. No other ballot boxes have been removed or moved locations since the November 2025 election.