With 119 early vote centers opening Saturday, Feb. 24, across Los Angeles County, it’s officially time for registered voters head to the ballot box and make their voices heard in the March 5 Presidential Primary Election.
The early centers will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and residents can find the location closest to them by visiting Locator.LAVote.Gov. Another 525 locations will on open March 2 and all sites will remain open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on March 5.
This election, L.A. County boasts a whopping 822 candidates, 175 offices and 16 local measures.
This includes 17 congressional, five state Senate and 24 Assembly races. There are also three seats on the county’s Board of Supervisors, dozens of Superior Court judgeships and scores of local city and school board races up for grabs.
Voters’ ballots will differ depending on where they live, but the three commonalties are the US Senate race, the District Attorney’s race and Prop. 1 — which would authorize $6.38 billion in bonds to fund mental health and substance-use treatment and housing for the homeless. Voters will also be able to participate in their political party’s presidential primary.
Most elections will proceed to a November runoff between the top two vote-getters, however some races — including the Board of Supervisors, District Attorney and L.A. City Council — can be settled in the primary if one candidate clinches the majority of votes. As usual, the top presidential candidate for each party will advance to the November election.
While every registered voter was sent a vote-by-mail ballot on Feb. 1, vote centers are essential for voters who lost their ballot, would like assistance from poll workers or simply prefer filing out their ballots using the electronic ballot marking devices. And yes, residents can also drop off their VBM ballots at a vote center.
All VBM ballots come postmarked and can be dropped any mailbox, post office or one of the 400+ ballot drop boxes scattered throughout the County. Voters can find a list of drop box locations at Locator.LAVote.Gov and track the status of their mailed ballot at California.ballottrax.net.
The deadline to register to vote and receive a VBM ballot has now passed, but residents can register in-person at any vote center from now through election day.
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Once registered, voters will be given a Conditional Voter Registration ballot and can fill it out using the electronic devices. The ballot will be counted as soon as the registration is verified. More information about the Conditional Voter Registration process is available at bit.ly/3lsQ9D2.
This election all ballots will be verified, tallied and stored at the brand new Los Angeles County Ballot Processing Center, a 144,000-square-foot warehouse, located in the City of Industry. Local leaders celebrated its grand opening during a ribbon cutting ceremony on Tuesday
At its peak the center will employ around 800 seasonal election workers, while an army of over 9,000 workers will staff the vote centers.