California Proposition 50 will pass, ABC News projects

Fresno County officials begin ballot counting after Californians voted to pass Proposition 50.

With polls closed now throughout Fresno County, the race begins to count all those ballots.

Despite Prop 50 being projected to pass, officials here are still working through tens of thousands of ballots that were returned on Tuesday.

It was a busy Election Day that at times translated into some lines at area vote centers.

But officials say it was largely smooth sailing, with very limited issues - largely related to parking.

There are various teams out and about collecting election materials and returning them to the Fresno County Election Warehouse in southeast Fresno for processing.

Fresno County Clerk and Registrar of Voters James Kus says his officials will be working well into the night and through Wednesday.

"When we start processing a VBM ballot, it's not an automatic process. We have to scan in that ballot. We have to then compare the signatures versus the signature in the registration record. And it's all done by humans. It takes time. It takes about two days, usually, to go from when we get it to when it's processed and ready for tabulation," Kus said.

And with all that processing still ahead, we aren't expecting any updated results on Wednesday.

Kus says the next tranche of returns will come before 5 p.m. Thursday and it won't be until next week when most of the ballots have been processed.

Over the course of several hours at the Fresno County Election Warehouse, none of the expected federal election observers were seen.

President Donald Trump posted on social media Tuesday night after election results from across the country were called.

In California, Prop 50 was projected to pass. The measure was a direct response to Trump telling Texas to redraw congressional districts before the midterm elections in order to gain more Republican seats.

On the East Coast, Democrat Zohran Mamdani is projected to be New York City's next mayor. In his victory speech, Mamdani said, "Donald Trump, since I know you're watching. Four words for you: Turn the volume up."

In Virginia, Democrat Abigail Spanberger is state's first female governor, according to projections. Democrat Mikie Sherrill is projected to be the new governor of New Jersey.

Trump posted in a on Truth Social, "...AND SO IT BEGINS!"

Gov. Gavin Newsom spoke in Sacramento after election projections announced that Proposition 50 will pass.

Newsom said he is proud of California standing up President Donald Trump. He said Trump is trying to rig the midterms elections "before one single vote is cast."

Watch Newsom's full speech:

Gov. Gavin Newsom spoke in Sacramento after election projections announced that Proposition 50 will pass. Watch his full speech here.

California voters across various demographic groups supported Proposition 50, according to preliminary ABC News exit polling.

Californians who voted "yes" on Proposition 50 included majorities across age groups, white, Black, Hispanic and Asian voters, men and women, and both college graduates and those without college degrees.

Roughly half of California voters said they were angry about the way things are going in the country, according to preliminary exit polling. About 9 in 10 of them voted "yes" on Proposition 50. Another quarter of voters said they were "dissatisfied, but not angry," and a majority of them voted yes as well. About 1 in 6 said they were satisfied, with even fewer saying they are enthusiastic about the state of the county - wide majorities of them voted "no."

About 9 in 10 California voters said that each state's congressional district lines should be drawn "in general" by a non-partisan commission rather than the party in power, according to exit polls. About 8 in 10 California voters who voted "yes" said that they voted that way more to counter the changes made by Republicans in other states while just under 2 in 10 voters said they voted that way because it is the best way to draw congressional district lines in California.