Polls in California recall election will close at 8 p.m. PT — or 11 p.m. ET — tonight. “We already know what a lot of those (early votes) are. We know they’ll be heavily Democratic. A lot of those people are Democrats who voted early,” explained CNN’s National Political Reporter Maeve Reston. 

“After this “blue drop,” you’ll see more Republican votes as in-person ballots come in,” Reston added.

While the count is taking place, California, with its so many ballots, is taking forever.  Despite it being a special election right in the middle of September, a high turnout is being expected by the people. 

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“Also remember, there will be the “after count,” which includes the mail-in ballots that were stamped on Election Day, but are received up to seven days after the election. In some recent elections, as much as a third of the total ballots cast were counted in that after count,” she said. 

In a particular order, a blue drop of early votes will happen first, followed by a red wave of people voting in-person, and finally the mail-in ballot will be counted.

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“Newsom is looking safer in a recent poll. Of course, we don’t know until all the votes are counted tonight. It was tight in late July and early August — It looked like it was like a 49-51 split on the recall,” Reston said. 

“Since then, Newsom’s team plunged millions and millions of dollars into ads and their ground game. And now they’re feeling safer. The most recent polls show Newsom having a much more comfortable lead on the recall question, with more voters saying no to the recall…But it comes down to turnout. Republicans are hoping for a really high turnout on Election Day.”

According to the newly updated data from Edison Research, over 9.1 million pre-election ballots have been cast in the California recall.

Total ballots tally as of September 13 is reportedly 9,109,956, making up for nearly 51% of the total votes tally in California in 2020. 

About 52%, as per data, were cast by registered Democrats and 26% by registered Republicans.