Election results answer the fundamental question: who won? But results data on this platform goes beyond the final tally. You can see how specific jurisdictions voted on statewide races, how candidate financial positions translated to outcomes, and how any place in California voted across the full ballot.
Two Views of Election Data
The platform provides two distinct views of election results, answering different questions:
"Who won here?" — Shows races that belong to a jurisdiction. For a city, this means mayoral races, city council races, and city ballot measures. For an Assembly district, this means the Assembly race itself.
"How did we vote on everything?" — Shows how voters in a jurisdiction voted on races that originated elsewhere. For a city, this includes presidential results, statewide propositions, and legislative races—how San Francisco residents voted, even though San Francisco doesn't run those elections.
Understanding which view you need determines where to look.
Finding Election Results
For races a jurisdiction "owns"
On any jurisdiction page (city, county, school district, etc.):
- Click the Elections tab
- Select Jurisdiction Elections
- Use the year and election type dropdowns at the top to browse different elections
You'll see results for races this jurisdiction administers: local offices and local ballot measures.
For how a jurisdiction voted on statewide and other races
On any jurisdiction page:
- Click the Elections tab
- Select How This Jurisdiction Voted
- Use the year and election type dropdowns to browse different elections
This shows how voters in this geographic area voted on races administered elsewhere—President, Governor, state propositions, legislative races, overlapping school district races, etc.
For state legislative races
Legislative districts (Assembly, Senate, Congressional) have their election information on dedicated Election pages:
- Navigate to the legislative district
- Click the election tab (e.g., 2026 Election or 2024 Election)
- This opens the Election page showing candidates, campaign finance data, and results
For browsing all statewide elections
From the sidebar, navigate to Statewide → Elections to access the Elections index, where you can browse all state legislative and statewide races.
Reading Local Election Results
When viewing a jurisdiction's election results, you'll see:
- Race name and type (Mayor, City Council District 3, Measure A, etc.)
- Expandable rows — click to reveal all candidates with vote totals and percentages
- Winner indicator showing who won or advanced to a runoff
- Links to Election Reports for races with precinct-level analysis available
For ballot measures, watch for threshold requirements. Some measures require a simple majority (50%+1); others require supermajorities (2/3 for many tax measures). A measure with 60% Yes votes might still fail if it required 2/3 approval.
Reading the "How This Jurisdiction Voted" View
This view organizes results into categories:
Statewide & Federal: President, Governor, US Senate, statewide propositions Legislative Races: Assembly, Senate, Congressional races that include voters from this jurisdiction Overlapping Local Races: School district, special district, and other local races from overlapping jurisdictions Overlapping Ballot Measures: Local measures from jurisdictions that overlap with this one
For each race, you see how voters in this specific geographic area voted. The percentages show local support levels, which may differ from overall outcomes.
State Legislative Election Pages
For Assembly, Senate, and Congressional races, the Election page combines:
- Candidates table with Raised, Spent, Cash, and Late Contributions (for upcoming elections) or vote results (for past elections)
- Recent Activity Feed showing Form 497 late contributions and Form 496 independent expenditures
- Independent Expenditures summary showing outside money supporting or opposing each candidate
The Late (497) column shows contributions received since the last Form 460 filing—useful for tracking momentum in the final weeks of a campaign.
Historical Results
Use the year and election type dropdowns to view historical elections. This helps you:
- Track how a district's voting patterns have shifted over time
- See how incumbents performed in previous elections
- Understand historical margin patterns for competitive races
Redistricting caveat: District boundaries changed after the 2020 Census. Comparing pre-2022 and post-2022 results for legislative districts requires caution—the voters in the district may have changed significantly.
Important Limitations
Results appear after certification: Official results are loaded after the election is certified, typically 4-6 weeks post-election. This is not a live election night dashboard.
Precinct data availability varies: Detailed geographic breakdowns (available through Election Reports) require precinct-level data, which isn't available for all races and years.
Unopposed races may not appear: Some uncontested races or races with only top-line results may be absent.
Local race coverage varies: Not all local jurisdictions report results through systems the platform can import.
Practical Applications
Understanding a jurisdiction's political lean: Navigate to Elections → How This Jurisdiction Voted, then check presidential and gubernatorial results to establish baseline partisanship. Then look at proposition results to see where the jurisdiction diverges from statewide patterns.
Researching an incumbent: Find them on the Candidates page or search for their name, then check their previous election results to see their margin of victory.
Analyzing ballot measure support: Use How This Jurisdiction Voted to see how different areas voted on the same proposition. A statewide measure might pass with 55%, but your jurisdiction may have voted 70% in favor—or 40%.
Assessing legislative races: On the Election page, compare candidate fundraising to their vote share. Did money predict the outcome? Were there underperforming frontrunners or overperforming underdogs?
Common Mistakes
Looking in the wrong view: Jurisdiction-owned races (local offices, local measures) are under Elections → Jurisdiction Elections. How the jurisdiction voted on statewide or legislative races is under Elections → How This Jurisdiction Voted.
Comparing percentages across contests: Different races have different total vote counts due to ballot dropoff. A 60% win with 10,000 votes is different from 60% with 50,000 votes.
Ignoring Primary results: The General election result doesn't tell the full story. Switch the election type dropdown to "Primary" to see early dynamics, especially for races where the Primary was more contested.
Conflating local votes with overall outcome: On the "How This Jurisdiction Voted" view, percentages show how this specific area voted, not necessarily the race's overall outcome.