Results tagged “voting”

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.

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.

It happens every election, except when that Obama guy shows up: voting turnout is dismal and embarrassing. Now, three bills being considered within the state could make some interesting changes. They won't change things overnight, but two of them deal with those under 17. The most interesting is from Long Beach Assemblyman Warren Furutani. ACA 2 would allow 17-year-olds to vote in a primary if he or she will be 18 by the time of the general election. Another bill, AB 30, from LA State Senator Curren Price would allow 16 and 17-year-olds to pre-register, but they would not be able to vote until they are 18. Price also has AB 106 that would allow you to be registered to vote via your state income tax, drivers license and various other forms.

Voting may be the hallmark of our Democracy, but it should not be our pastime. It should be reserved for regular elections and the off-chance that there is a special and well deserved occasion. We Californians vote way too much for our own good. We are standing in our own way of progress and need to let our leaders do their jobs so we can lead fuller, richer, more productive lives.

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.

Calm down, not everyone will be voting in each of these, but here's what's up next:

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."

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.

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.

With so many uncounted ballots statewide, three candidate races and one proposition are still too close to call. Prop 8 is unlikely to be reversed, but Prop 11, the redistricting measure, is only winning by 127,156 votes. Also, one local state Senate District, the 19th, has Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson leading Republican Tony Strickland 50.2% to 49.8% as of yesterday.

Uncounted absentee and provisional ballots across the state--estimated to be around 1.6 million--must be counted by December 2. LA County officials say around 566,000 ballots remain uncounted while other counties in Southern California estimate a combined total of around 421,000. When all is said an done, could any of the close races turn around?

                     

We all saw a lot of memorable things yesterday during the historic election. Here's one perspective captured with an Angeleno's camera.

With 100% of precincts reporting, voters in the city of Los Angeles seem to have passed three of the four measures on yesterday's ballot, each of which have different majorities needed to pass.

                   

Free donuts and coffee, long lines at the polls, the "I Voted" sticker, parties, ballots, and headlines... Election Day and Night in Los Angeles as seen through the eyes of the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr.

For nearly two years, we've heard the call to "Get out the vote." And boy, did we ever. According to a Los Angeles Times article: "More than 82% of Los Angeles County voters -- who endured long lines, scattered problems at some polls and even light morning rain -- cast ballots in Tuesday's historic election, shattering records dating back decades, election officials said....

By 6:00 p.m. tonight, 72.22% of the roughly 4.3 million registered voters in Los Angeles County have voted. That translates to about 3,105,460 people including those who voted prior to the election via vote-by-mail and early voting in Norwalk. By comparison, 63.51% and 56.04% of registered voters turned out to the polls by 6:00 p.m. in 2004 and 2000, respectively.

As of 2:00 p.m., the LA County Registrar-Recorder's Office said that an estimated 48.55%, or 2,087,650 people, of the 4.3 million registered voters have voted already today. This number reportedly does not include the more than 647,000 people who voted by mail or participated in early voting (though, over a million early vote requests were made). "A comparative sample turnout for the 2004 Presidential General Election showed 43.62% for the same time period," an advisory stated. " Samplings from previous year General Elections for the time period ranged from 20.71% in 2002 to 35.69% in 2000."

Here's one of those great photo juxtaposition Los Angeles moments. A voter marks her ballot this morning as a surfer heads for the water at a polling place at Venice Beach lifeguard headquarters.

A reader writes in about Logan Street Elementary School in Echo Park and to remember to check your color code. "There are two precincts voting here, so make sure you know if you are ORANGE or GREEN (it is next to your address on your Official Sample Ballot - or they can tell you there). Cross your fingers for green, as the orange line is much longer." Save for some power outages, voting problems across LA County seem to be few and far between. Lines are obviously long, but people seem to be in high spirits. Log your experience in the comments section of our earlier post.

LAist Editor Zach Behrens, from his Sherman Oaks polling place:

Reader Gina Piccalo writes from Echo Park:

Reports are slowly trickling in from around Los Angeles that, surprise, voting lines are long. LAist contributers Sam Kim and Sarah Ardalani report varying wait times in West L.A. and Echo Park, respectively. At Kim's polling place, lines stretched about 40 minutes long while Ardalani waited about 15 minutes at Golden West Christian Church off of Alvarado and Sunset where "tons of people" cast their ballots Tuesday morning.

Election Day has finally arrived and with it continued worries about expected record turnout and what that means for each voter. The County Clerk has asked that voters arrive at their polling places after 9 a.m. and before 4:30 p.m. to avoid the crush of residents casting ballots during the morning and evening rush hour. Don't let that dissuade you, however, from voting when you need/want to.

Election officials are bracing for tremendous turnout at polling places throughout Los Angeles County Tuesday and reassuring voters that enough ballots will be on hand to serve the millions expected to show up for the hotly contested race.