On the morning of October 20, the California Avocado Commission learned some completed CAC election ballots that were mailed to the California Department of Food and Agriculture were returned to sender (sample below) by the U.S. Post Office. CAC has determined CDFA paid the necessary fees on their Permit No. 942, but the U.S. Post Office mistakenly placed those funds into another account. CDFA has confirmed they received some ballots before their Permit “ran out of money.”
Based on this information the entire voting process must be reconducted. CAC's goal is to have new ballots mailed by Friday, October 24, 2025 or early next week with a 30 day voting period. The new ballots will be printed in a different color to ensure only the second set of ballots are tallied. Once the new voting deadline is complete, CDFA, as part of their internal tallying process, will check each ballot against the eligible voter list to ensure accuracy. All ballots received by CDFA from the original election process will not be counted.
Due to this delay the November 13, 2025, Board meeting is being rescheduled and more details will follow.
CAC will inform growers once the new ballots have been mailed.
