San Diego sets Aug. 5 ballot-order draw for November City Council election

The San Diego City Clerk is scheduled to conduct a random drawing Wednesday, Aug. 5, to determine the order in which candidates’ names will appear on the ballot for the city’s Nov. 3, 2026 general municipal election.

The drawing is set for 10 a.m. in the lobby of the City Administration Building, 202 C Street in San Diego. The City Clerk’s election information page and the city’s 2026 Candidate Information Manual both list Aug. 5 as the date for the ballot-name-order process.

The drawing is a procedural step in preparing the general-election ballot. The official notice had not identified a final ballot order as of Aug. 3, before the drawing was to occur.

Four council districts are on the ballot

The Nov. 3 general municipal election will include City Council Districts 2, 4, 6 and 8. It will be consolidated with the California general election, according to the City Clerk.

For those council contests, the top two vote-getters from the June 2, 2026 primary advance to the general election. The ballot-order drawing therefore concerns the candidates proceeding through that election process, rather than establishing the outcome of any contest.

The city’s notice does not say which individual candidates will revise their general-election materials. It also does not provide a ballot-order result in advance of the Aug. 5 draw.

Candidate materials open to public examination

Candidate ballot materials are available for public examination from July 28 through Aug. 7, 2026. The examination period gives the public an opportunity to inspect those materials before the November election.

Candidates may revise their ballot materials for the general election or retain the materials they used in the June primary, according to the City Clerk. The notice does not specify which option any particular candidate will choose.

The Aug. 7 end date for public examination is the next stated deadline in the City Clerk’s notice following the ballot-order drawing. The Nov. 3 election remains the final scheduled voting date for the four City Council districts covered by the municipal general election.

City election officials have described the Aug. 5 event as a random draw for ballot name order. The available official materials do not characterize the process as affecting candidates’ chances of election.