Results tagged “vote”

A mini-controversy is already surrounding Republican candidate for California Governor Meg Whitman. The former eBay CEO's first record of voter registration was found in 2002, when she was 46 years old. Whitman has admitted and apologized for the bad example that is her non-voting record, but says she had voted in some elections prior to 2002. However, a Sacramento Bee search of public records could not confirm that.

Tomorrow is the special election for Los Angeles City Council District 2 to fill the seat vacated by Wendy Greuel, who is now serving as the City Controller. There are ten candidates vying for the win, among them familiar names and faces from other public offices and elections: Tamar Galatzan (Criminal Prosecutor and current LAUSD Board Member); Jozef "Joe" Thomas Essavi (LA County Commissioner; Christine Essel (Businesswoman/Neighborhood Advocate); Michael McCue (Boardmember, Neighborhood Council); Pete Sanchez (Community Organizer);

The L.A. City Clerk is reminding residents of Council District 2--that's Sherman Oaks through Shadow Hills--to register by Tuesday in order to participate in the September 22 special election to fill the seat vacated by Wendy Greuel, who left to become City Controller.

Although no strike is reportedly on the immediate horizon, the Service Employees International Union "announced that 74 percent of its membership approved [a] strike authorization in votes counted Saturday," according to abc7.com, and "union leaders will meet in the coming week to decide what steps to take."

State Assemblyman Paul Krekorian will be soon be voting on the proposed budget solution, which severely impacts local governments including Los Angeles. If it passes, Los Angeles could lose millions and has leaders like Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Council President Eric Garcetti worried. Krekorian also happens to be one of the frontrunners in the race for Los Angeles Council District 2. That's quite a pickle of a situation and when pressed about it, his office declined to comment. Will he vote along Democratic party lines to approve the budget, which could hurt Los Angeles yet immediately help the state, or will he make a statement as someone who really wants to represent Los Angeles on the City Council? No matter what he does, it's not a black or white situation--it's not like the Democrats have many choices with Schwarzenegger, who basically is unwilling to compromise with many workable ideas. Still, politics are politics: if he votes for the budget, expect that to be a major issue his opponents will use against him in future debates.

As expected, Judy Chu won California's 32nd Congressional Seat in yesterday's election. "With 173 of 209 precincts reporting Tuesday night, Chu had 14,115 votes, or 62 percent. She was trailed by her cousin by marriage, Republican Betty Chu, with 7,355 votes, or 32 percent," reported the Associated Press. "Most residents in the 32nd Congressional District are Hispanic, but Judy Chu assembled a diverse coalition and stressed her ability to work across racial and ethnic lines. Her supporters included Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, one of the nation's most recognized Latino politicians." The district stretches from East LA into the San Gabriel Valley, from Monterey Park to Azusa. NPR yesterday featured the race as a unique one because Chu faced off with Betty Chu, the Republican Monterey Park city councilmember and a cousin by marriage.

Well, some of us vote, at least. After the May 19th Special Election where no candidate garnered 50 percent of the vote needed to claim the 32nd seat in the U.S House--left open by Hilda Solis after she joined the Obama administration as the Labor Secretary--a run-off was set for today. Democrat and vice chair of the California Board of Equalization Judy Chu is the frontrunner and is expected to win. She faces off with Republican Monterey Park Councilwoman Betty Chu (no relation) and Libertarian businessman Christopher M. Agrella. Polls are open from 7:00 a.m. through 8:00 p.m. and to find out where to vote, plug your address into the county's Recorder-Registrar website. The 32nd Congressional District covers a portions of the San Gabriel Valley and other areas including East LA, Rosemead, El Monte, Monterey Park, Baldwin Park, Irwindale, Azusa, Covina and Walnut Valley.

Every time we have a statewide election, there tend to be a few bond measures in there. Last November, one was the popular high speed rail bond that raised nearly $10 billion to whisk people from Los Angeles and San Fransisco in two hours, thirty-eight minutes. Most all agree, it's a good thing, but when it comes down to paying bonds back, it can run the state into fiscal problems such as we're facing today.

Young politicians have an awful lot of social networking and "new media" at their disposal to make reaching out to their potential constituents a lot faster and easier. Like many people in their 20s, Emanuel Pleitez, who recently challenged veteran politico Gil Cedillo for the 32nd Congressional District seat vacated by US Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, made use of his personal Facebook profile to share news items and images with his "friends."

By 1:15 p.m., a voting precinct in a garage on Stern Avenue in Sherman Oaks just received their 60th vote. That's 60, or 4.28%, out of roughly 1400, a number provided by the LA County Recorder-Registrar's Office pertaining to the average amount of registered voters per precinct. Countywide, a sampling of turnout was a bit higher at 8.76% as of 2 p.m., according to the Recorder-Registrar's Twitter feed. Polls are open to 8 p.m. and if you need more info on today's election, check out our earlier post.

Well, election day is tomorrow and if you haven't already voted by mail and are otherwise understudied for tomorrow, there are plenty places to help catch you up on tomorrow's election. Here are some of our recommendations:

Today is the deadline to register for the May 19th California special and consolidated election. You'll want to register if you qualify (US Citizen at least 18 years old, not on parole for felony conviction, residing in Los Angeles County), and/or if you've moved since the last time you voted.

It was as close to a split as a panel of 7 can get: In a 4-3 vote, the LAUSD Board of Education voted late yesterday afternoon to approve layoffs that will affect thousands of teachers and other district staff.

Last week's election hardly brought a soul out. 6%, or around 24,000 people, of nearly 400,000 registered voters came out for last week's special election for the 26th district State Senate seat vacated by Mark Ridley-Thomas when he joined the LA County Board of Supervisors. At a cost of around $2.2 million, many are frustrated at how the currently system is set up, which does not encourage participation.

As expected, it's a slooooowwww election day for the State Senate District 26 seat. "I voted at my usual polling place in Silver Lake today (The Hollywood Sunset Free Clinic Meeting Room on Sunset Blvd.)," commented rizzo on a post this morning about the election. "I walked in at 12:30pm and was greeted with cheers and squeals of delight by the poll workers. They said I was number 14. As I pushed away the tumbleweeds and looked toward the voting booths I noticed there were no machines. Just the empty booths and some EXPO markers. They handed me a ballot and said to just fill it in... old school style. Have never seen that before."

If you live in neighborhoods or regions such as Silver Lake, Hollywood, Culver City, Koreatown, South LA or the Westside, there is a good chance there's a polling place waiting to take your vote (see a map and more info on today's election here). In fact, the County of Los Angeles is spending $2.2 million on today's primary election for the 26th State Senate seat vacated by Mark Ridley-Thomas when before he became an LA County Supervisor. Brian Frank, Co-Editor of Neon Tommy, finds that only a third of the 393,017 registered voters bothered showing up in the 2006 race for this seat. He also speaks to a group residents "whom express disillusionment and resentment over the political process." More info on the candidates can be found on Smart Voter. The blog Biking in LA and blogger Josh Haden also covered the candidates.

Former Daily News Editor turned grassroots activist Ron Kaye last week took an in-depth look at the preliminary election results district by district. He came to some interesting conclusions and one thing that surprised us most was that five of the fifteen council districts--in the Valley and on the Westside--hold nearly half of the city's voting population:

We're hearing more and more of rumors and rumblings that residents in Los Angeles did not receive their sample or vote-by-mail ballot. Even LA resident and Secretary of State Debra Bowen was left out. But as she pointed out, there could be a variety of factors involved beyond a city gaffe including post office delivery, mailroom mistakes at condos, etc. But we want to hear from you in the comment section below. If you live in Los Angeles and are a registered voter, did you get information on yesterday's election?

This could be the turning point for Measure B and a few other close races. The City Clerks office has 21 days by election code to announce the official results, but they could be announced earlier, one representative said over the phone. Here's what's left to count:

With an extremely weak voter turnout, yesterday's election ended with not-so-surprising final results, but did have some interesting numbers. The following is based on results posted by the City Clerks Office at 1:46 a.m. with 99.94% of precincts reporting.

We just caught wind of this fun but poignant video by the Young Progressive Majority. It drives the point home on why it's important to participate in local elections. Basically, the problems of Los Angeles are Los Angeles' problems, not necessarily just President Obama and the feds. So if you want to be involved on making your home a better place, then you should vote today (or whenever your local election is) if you already haven't.

Happy election day! Whether you're doing a last-minute catch up or need to get some information, we've got a few basic tips for you below. The following is intended for the City of Los Angeles election, but some may be useful to everyone. If you are voting in another city, go to your city's homepage and check in with their election information.

Just short of four months from the last election day, tomorrow Los Angeles will vote. Traditionally, the March election is not exactly a well attended one, but tomorrow we vote for Mayor, half of the City Council districts, City Attorney and Controller, some LAUSD and Community College seats and a five ballot propositions. Who and what are we voting on? Here are some recommended ballot guides.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is packing this weekend full of man-about-town stops where he can meet the people and pose for photos all in prep for Tuesday's municipal election, when he hopes the voters will put him into office for a second term.

Incumbent Mayor Antonia Villaraigosa wouldn't take Steve Lopez up on the offer of comparing french dip sandwiches along with his challengers a few days ago, but according to his Twitter feed, he's happy to shake a few hands with voters at another famous LA meat sandwich shop: Langer's Deli. Villaraigosa is kissing babies and finding photo ops as part of a very busy weekend campaign bus tour of the city. Already today he has "rallied the troops in support of the solar plan Measure B" and "open[ed] a Fire Station in the Pico Union area." His campaign blog lists many such visits today and tomorrow (although the midday ones are absent from today's agenda) and includes an awful lot of greeting, and a lot of potential meat-eating. His late-night nosh stops include Canter's Deli at 10 pm and Pink's Hot Dogs at 11.

LA Times columnist Steve Lopez had what he thought was an ingenious way to gather the candidates City of Los Angeles voters have to choose from in Tuesday's Mayoral election. His plan was to get them together to chat and to determine "who makes the best French dip sandwich in Los Angeles, Phillipe the Original or Cole's?" he explains in his column this weekend.

With just over a week to go before the City of Los Angeles takes to the polls to elect--or re-elect--a Mayor, candidates for the job have been participating in public forums to get their platforms and pot-shots out. Yesterday, five of the nine candidates gathered in Tujunga at an event moderated by the Daily News' Ron Kaye; one of those five was decidedly not incumbent Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Did you let the excitement of voting in November's historic election pass you by? Did you just turn 18 or get your US Citizenship in the past couple of weeks? Did you just move to Los Angeles? If you answered yes to any of those questions, and you want to have your say in the upcoming local election, you'd better bust a move: "Angelenos interested in casting ballots in the city's March 3 election must register to vote by Tuesday," reminds the Daily News. Need help? You'll find the necessary forms at most city and county buildings, libraries, fire stations, post offices and Department of Motor Vehicles offices," but, remember, a lot of those places are closed today for Presidents Day. The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's Office can also lend a hand.

California is thiiiiiiiiiiis close to having an actual state budget, but it's going to be a tough last battle to get 'er done. KQED's Capitol Notes blog has opted, albeit reluctantly, the newest way to keep groups of people informed at an up-to-the-second rate: Twitter. Although KQED's John Myers says Twitter is "just one more step towards full non-contemplative analysis and writing," it might be the best way to follow "tonight's budget debate/vote/saga." Why the drama? Well, for one thing, it might come down to one vote. "Santa Ana State Sen. Lou Correa, one of only three Democrats representing Orange County, may prove to be the deciding vote for or against a plan touted by the California Chamber of Commerce as the best solution to 'keep our state from going over a financial cliff,'" explains the OC Register. Yikes! Talk about precarious. No wonder Capitol Notes' first Tweet cautions: "Buckle those seatbelts."