California's Voter Registration Deadline Was Oct. 19. Here’s How You Can Still Register If You Missed The Deadline.

Monday Oct. 19 before midnight was the last chance for Californians to register to vote online and still receive a ballot in the mail in time for the election. 

But the online deadline doesn’t mean it was your last chance to register at all. There are in-person registration options through 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3. 

The Oct. 19 online cutoff point is necessary to give county election officials time to verify voters’ eligibility and still ship out their ballot, explained Janna Haynes, spokesperson for Sacramento County’s elections department.

“That is why the Oct. 19 online voter registration deadline exists,” she said. “It is for people to still get a ballot in the mail in time for the election.” 

Since the 2016 general election, California has added nearly 3 million new voters and the voter registration rate is at its highest level since 1952, the Secretary of State’s office reported last week. More than 84% of eligible voters are registered — or 21.2 million Californians.

Even so, millions more are eligible to vote who have not registered.

Here’s How You Can Still Register If You Miss The Oct. 19 Deadline

Don’t lose hope if you missed the deadline. You can still register to vote in person at your county elections office through Nov. 3 and later this month at voting locations. A list of county election offices and addresses is here, and a map of voting locations in Sacramento, Yolo, Placer and El Dorado counties is here. 

These later signups are known as “conditional registrations,” as election officials must still verify a person’s eligibility but voters can cast a provisional ballot through California’s Same Day Voter Registration process. 

Many Californians will be able to register in-person at vote centers, including in Sacramento County, starting Oct. 24. These sites also allow anyone registered in their county to update their registration (if you’ve moved or changed your name), and to vote in-person or drop off a mail-in ballot. The first vote centers open on Oct. 24 and all open by Oct. 31. 

These sites are larger than traditional polling places and often located at libraries or community centers, though there are fewer of them. 

Sacramento, Madera, Napa, Nevada, and San Mateo counties switched to the vote center model in 2018. Ten more counties adopted it this year: Butte, El Dorado, Amador, Calaveras, Tuolumne, Mariposa, Fresno, Santa Clara, Orange and Los Angeles. 

You can find a vote center, also called early voting locations, by entering your county, city or zip code on this website.