Boy, time moves fast! We’re back in your inbox because it’s ... 🥁 drumroll 🥁 ... Election Day! We’ve got a whole new batch of races and measures to follow.

You’re getting this email because you signed up for Make It Make Sense, our special short-term newsletter to help you make sense of the Nov. 3 general election results. We’re LAist journalists Cato Hernández and Makenna Cramer, and we’ll be in your inbox to break down the ballot count after Election Day. (And if you haven’t voted yet, you can find all our guides to races in L.A. and Orange counties here.)

Here’s a preview of what to expect.

About this year’s count

Yeah, yeah, we know California gets knocked for its slow count. That likely won’t change too much this cycle, but we could see a somewhat quicker turnaround for a couple of reasons.

It starts with how we tally votes. Early votes get counted first, then in-person Election Day votes, followed by mail-in ballots — and remember that California allows seven days for mail-in ballots to arrive as long as they’re postmarked by Election Day. A small percentage of ballots go through signature curing too. According to voter data firm Political Data Intelligence , 28% of California voters have already cast their ballots, so that could help speed things along.

Vote processing has also been beefed up since the June primary. Earlier this year, California lawmakers set aside millions in state funding that has since been spent on new tally machines and increased staffing — Orange and Los Angeles county registrars included.

But how fast could things really move? We’ll have to wait and see.

On another note, you may have heard that the Trump administration sued to block California from counting about 20,000 ballots — in this election — from voters they alleged are likely noncitizens. The Justice Department’s request was rejected first by a U.S. district court and appeals court before being denied again Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court.  We’ll keep you updated if the federal government makes more moves that affect our local elections.

Did you make an informed vote this election thanks to LAist? Support trusted election resources like this one. Take a moment today to make a donation to help power our nonprofit newsroom so that we can strengthen our in-depth election coverage and be ready for the next one.

What you can expect from us

We’ll be keeping an eye on the local races in Los Angeles and Orange counties, and we’ll bring the results straight to your inbox in batches until it's all final.

The national picture is still very much at play, but our focus is here in Southern California. We’ll briefly bring you the latest from the midterms and point to deeper coverage by our partners at NPR.

We’ll be back in your inbox tomorrow morning and every day this week. Starting next week, you can expect to hear from us when there’s major news to share. We’ll wrap up once all the races have been called ... at least until the next election.

As a reminder, our newsroom declares a race called when the Associated Press or NPR does the same, or when a candidate concedes. For some down-ballot races that don’t fall into either of those categories, LAist may make a call based on mathematical certainties, but we don’t make projections on our own.

We’ll stay up late tonight so you don’t have to. See you bright and early with the first round of results.

— Cato and Makenna