On November 17 at 9 a.m., the Department of Elections will conduct the random selection of ballots for the 1% manual tally of the November 3, 2026, Consolidated General Election. The process will involve selecting 1% of precincts and vote-by-mail and provisional ballot batches using ten-sided dice, according to the Department.
The selection will be open to public observation at the Department’s office in City Hall and livestreamed at sfelections.gov/observe. The manual tally will begin on November 18 at 8:30 a.m. at the Department’s warehouse on Pier 31.
Press Release: City and County of San Francisco
Published November 12, 2026. Reproduced in full from the City and County of San Francisco.
The Department of Elections Schedules Random Selection of Ballots for the Manual Tally of the November 3, 2026, Consolidated General Election
Department of Elections
City and County of San Francisco
John Arntz, Director
SAN FRANCISCO, Thursday, November 12, 2026, On Tuesday, November 17 at 9 a.m., the Department of Elections will conduct the random selection of ballots for the 1% manual tally. Using ten-sided dice, the Department will randomly select 1% of San Francisco precincts, as well as 1% of vote-by-mail and provisional ballot batches, for this required post-election audit.
The 1% manual tally is a public process conducted to confirm that the voting equipment accurately tabulated ballots and correctly reported election results.
The selection process will be open to public observation in person at the Department’s office in City Hall, Room 48, and will also be livestreamed at sfelections.gov/observe. A recording of the process will be posted online shortly after its conclusion.
Given that San Francisco had 501 polling places in the November 3 Election, five precincts will be randomly selected for the manual tally. Batches of vote-by-mail and provisional ballots equal to 1% of the total number of batches processed will then be randomly selected for inclusion in the tally.
Once the selection process is complete, Department staff will gather the selected ballots and prepare them for the manual tally. The tally will begin on Wednesday, November 18, at 8:30 a.m. at the Department’s warehouse on Pier 31. The process will be open to public observation both in person and via livestream at sfelections.gov/observe.
