Ballots for the California 2025 special election on Proposition 50 will soon be sent to Stanislaus County voters, according to county officials. The election, scheduled for November 4, focuses on whether to implement a mid-decade redistricting plan that would last until 2030 or maintain current district maps until the next regular redistricting.
Donna Linder, Stanislaus County Registrar of Voters, said turnout is uncertain. “So that’s still an issue, but I think once we get closer, we’ll kind of see what the excitement is about it,” Linder said.
Mail-in ballots are set to be distributed starting October 6. Voters can return their ballots by mail or drop them off at one of 24 indoor or five outdoor locations throughout the county. Linder advised those mailing ballots on Election Day to use a U.S. Postal Service office to ensure a November 4 postmark.
Early in-person voting begins October 25 at five vote centers. Five additional centers open November 1 and another opens November 2. All vote centers will operate from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., including Election Day.
Due to time constraints—officials had only 75 days instead of the usual 145—there will be just eleven in-person vote centers this year compared with the typical thirty-two. “Normally, we have 145 days to set up for an election, and this one, we had just 75,” Linder explained.
Perfecto Muñoz, CEO of the West Modesto Community Collaborative, noted that renovations at King-Kennedy Memorial Center mean it will not serve as a voting site this year. “We were hoping that this would be an opportunity to be open to the community, but because of the renovation, the access to the building would be pretty limited,” Muñoz said. Instead, west Modesto voters can use Westview Gardens Community Center as an early vote center.
All vote centers will provide accessibility features and language support; ballots are available in English and Spanish.
Special elections often see lower participation rates than general elections; during California’s last special election—the recall of Governor Gavin Newsom in 2021—about half of registered voters cast ballots.
The single-item ballot asks voters whether they support adopting new congressional district maps now or waiting until regular redistricting occurs in six years’ time. The proposed map is included in voter guides sent out ahead of balloting.
The deadline for registering by mail is October 20; late registrants may still sign up through Election Day but must complete provisional ballots subject to verification before being counted last in official tallies.
A law passed last year requires counties like Stanislaus to wait twenty-six days after Election Day before accepting cured ballots (those fixed due to signature issues), with final certification occurring two days later—a process meaning official results won’t be available until nearly four weeks after voting ends.
