The Department of Elections Releases Preliminary Results Report #3 and Update on the Number of Ballots Left to Count for the September 16, 2025, Special Recall Election

Department of Elections
City and County of San Francisco
John Arntz, Director

For Immediate Release
SAN FRANCISCO, Thursday, September 18, 2025 – Today, the Department of Elections issued the third preliminary election results reports of votes cast in the September 16, 2025, Special Recall Election.

Today’s preliminary results report includes 4,784 vote-by-mail ballots counted since the last results report issued on Election Night. The September 2025 election ballot is comprised of one ballot card.

The Department must still process and count approximately 250 ballots. This estimate includes approximately 110 vote-by-mail ballots and 140 provisional ballots (cast at polling places and the City Hall Voting Center).

Today’s results report includes approximately 700 vote-by-mail ballots received on Election Day from the United States Postal Service (USPS), as well as 700 ballots received from the USPS on Wednesday, September 17, and which were postmarked on or before Election Day. These two deliveries of vote-by-mail ballots were not included in the estimated total of unprocessed ballots that the Department issued on September 17.

Department personnel will process and count ballots during the weekdays from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Ballot processing is open to public observation in-person and via livestream at sfelections.org/observe.

The Department will next release preliminary results reports on Thursday, September 25, 4 p.m. and which will be posted at www.sfelections.gov/results.

When the Department issues results reports, Director John Arntz will be available to respond to questions from members of the public and the media outside of Room 48 in City Hall.

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