Voting is nearly over in California’s special election on redistricting, and that means the counting is really about to begin.

More than 5.7 million vote-by-mail ballots have been returned and accepted in the Proposition 50 election, according to the latest tally from the secretary of state’s office. But voters have until Tuesday to return their ballots in person or by mail.

The first batch of election results will be released shortly after polls close at 8 p.m. Tuesday per the secretary of state’s schedule. These are semiofficial results from mailed and early-voting ballots processed ahead of Election Day.

In Orange County, the registrar of voters will post the first round of results at 8:05 p.m., with updated reports following at 9:30 p.m. and every 30 minutes after until all in-person ballots are included in the results. The registrar’s office will continue counting ballots that arrive through the mail — ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 4 and received by Nov. 12 to count — throughout the next week.

So, does it take the county a long time to count the votes?

Orange County Registrar of Voters Bob Page says it’s not a matter of if he’ll be asked that question each election season, but rather how often.

And the answer, he says, is no.

Since 2020, Orange County has reported at least 95% of all ballots counted from four to nine days after Election Day. If more people cast their ballots early or at vote centers, Page expects to hit that 95% benchmark on the shorter end of that range, he said in a recent Q&A with voters.

“We do not count ballots slowly,” Page said. “And our counting has not slowed since California law required counties to mail a ballot to all active registered voters.”

That being said, a new state law signed by the governor last year does slow down when voters may see certified election results. The law gives California voters more time to fix their ballot if it has a missing or mismatched signature. But that also means county elections officials cannot certify the results until after that deadline.

For the special election, the cure deadline — for voters to fix signature issues — is 5 p.m. Nov. 30.

County elections officials cannot certify their results until 28 days after Election Day, so Dec. 2, Page explained in a recent LinkedIn post.

As of Friday afternoon, more than 537,000 vote-by-mail ballots had been returned in Orange County. Another 10,700 ballots had been cast at vote centers.

More than 1.9 million ballots were issued to voters in Orange County at the start of the special election.

Tuesday is the final day to vote, and voters can do so by returning the ballots mailed in early October at a drop box, voting center or early voting location, or through the mail. Ballots returned via mail must be postmarked no later than Nov. 4 and received by the county elections office by Nov. 12.

Voters can also participate in the election in person at voting centers, which will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day. If you’re in line to vote at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, you can stay in line and still vote.

Find the nearest ballot drop box or vote center, as well as voting center wait times, on the county registrar’s website, www.ocvote .gov/voting.

California voters are deciding on Proposition 50, the midcycle congressional redistricting plan backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and other Democrats.

Voters must decide whether to implement new, partisan congressional maps for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections. That would mean forgoing the current maps drawn by a 14-member group comprising five Republicans, five Democrats and four commissioners not affiliated with the two major parties.

The idea is to offset similar gerrymandering efforts in states led by Republican governors or legislatures at the behest of President Donald Trump; Texas, Missouri and North Carolina have redistricted since Newsom put in motion California’s redistricting plan.