L.A. County’s second wave of Vote Centers to open as turnout swells

A new wave of polling places across Los Angeles County will open Friday, Oct. 30, giving voters hundreds of more places to vote in a general election in the county that has already seen more than half the total turnout of four years ago.

The county vote centers opening now through Tuesday, Election Day, will add to the 118 that opened last weekend, bringing the total to 758 centers from the county’s northernmost to its southernmost stretches.

Between the centers and vote-by-mail ballots, early voting turnout has already been remarkable — mirroring trends seen across the country in the run-up to Nov. 3.

The Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk reported late Wednesday that 1,990,521 vote-by-mail ballots have been cast, with 121,378 early, in-person votes cast.

With less than a week before the election, that means more than 2 million people, among the county’s 5.6 million registered voters, have already cast ballots, according to the registrar’s office.

#LACounty voters are weighing in — 1,990,521 vote by mail ballots cast and 121,378 early, in-person votes cast puts us over the 2 million mark with six days to go. #VoteSafe2020 #LAVotes pic.twitter.com/VB7UzlOz01

— Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk (@LACountyRRCC) October 29, 2020

Even at 2 million, that’s already 60% of L.A. County’s November 2016 General Election. The total turnout then was 3.5 million votes cast, according to county elections records.

It’s a trend that is mirroring the national turnout — in some places in the country it’s already exceeding the full turnout of the 2016 election — Cal State Northridge political science professor Lawrence Becker said.

Becker said that given this year’s push to send mail-in-ballots to all residents, the turnout was not wholly unexpected.

“We’re seeing this pattern everywhere and it’s not surprisng we’re seeing it in L.A. County, too,” he said, noting that in many ways California — with its myriad options for voting — should be a model for the nation, where in some places people have endured seven-hour waits to vote.

He was optimistic that won’t be the case as the new batch of polling places open on Friday.

“It’s a good thing, in a way, that we worked some of those problems out and gave it a trial run,” Becker said of the March primary. “There were problems. There we some long lines. But I think we’ve sort of figured out some of that, and where the bottlenecks might show up.”

Vote Centers opening Friday include a bevy of high-profile, unique venues to add to a long list of community centers, churches, libraries and school campuses and other familiar sites.

They include Dodger Stadium, SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Westfield Fashion Square in Sherman Oaks, Tree People in Beverly Hills, The Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. But from Claremont to the South Bay, many more are expected to vote early.

If the weekend of voting goes as well as last weekend, voters would be in for a relatively smooth experience — particularly in comparison to March, when technical glitches and staffing issues tainted not only the early voting period but also election day itself.

The centers themselves are meant to be a one-stop shop, where rows of ballot machines are there for any voter, regardless of where they live in the county, who want to vote in person. Voters can also register and drop off their ballots.

There were some minor hiccups last weekend, when early voting began, but for the most part elections officials were pleased.

So were voters.

“We saw that the Hollywood Bowl was going to have this voting facility. We thought it would be a beautiful way to start the weekend. It was easy as pie, and people were here to explain things. It was beautiful,” said Julie Guilmetee, who voted at the Hollywood Bowl site.

Voters were also mindful of election integrity and COVID-19, which are major issues overlaying this year’s election.

“We don’t want to leave anything to chance from here,” said Anne Schultz of Studio City.

David Beedon, 56, who came to vote at L.A. Valley College last weekend with his girlfriend and twin 18 year-old sons, was confident, but mindful of the national context.

“I think there is rhetoric on a certain side that’s ridiculous, trying to delegitimize things,” he said. “I’m confident that my vote counted, it does matter, and it will be counted correctly.”

Vote Centers will be open every day from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. during the early voting period. On Election Day, Vote Centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

To find one near you, visit https://locator.lavote.net/locations/vc?id=4193&culture=en.