A stream of Los Angeles County residents trickled into the county’s 119 early voting centers on Saturday, Feb. 24, to cast their ballots for the March 5 Presidential Primary Election.
The centers opened at 10 a.m. and received 1,870 visits by 5:30 p.m., said Mike Sanchez, public information officer for the L.A. County Clerk/Registrar-Recorder. Everything was “smooth sailing” and no major problems were reported across the county, he added.
The early centers will remain 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 open on March 2 and all sites will remain open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on March 5.
What voters see on their ballot will depend on where in the county they live. Most voters will be able to cast a vote in the race for US Senate, House of Representatives, State Assembly, State Senate, Board of Supervisors, Superior Court judgeships, District Attorney, local city council and school boards, local measures and Prop. 1 — a state ballot measure to fund mental health treatment and homeless housing. Voters will also be able to vote for their party’s presidential candidate.
At the Dockweiler Youth Center’s vote center Mark Jones, 69, of Manhattan Beach, checked in voters on a sunny and serene Saturday afternoon.
“It’s been pretty quiet all day, but that’s to be expected,” he said. “I think as time goes on, especially the next weekend and on Monday and Tuesday for sure, it will get a lot more crowded.”
The peaceful launch of in-person voting this cycle is a welcome departure from the chaos that plagued vote centers during the March 3, 2020 Presidential Primary Election when malfunctions in the electronic tablets used to check in voters created hours-long lines.
This is the second time Jones has served as a poll worker and he enjoys the opportunity to give back to the community and assist in the democratic process.
“I think voting is extremely important and is a civic duty,” he said. “Anything I can do to help facilitate that for other people is fully worth it.”
Another benefit of working at the Dockweiler Youth Center, conveniently perched above the sandy beach in Playa del Rey, is the gorgeous view and fresh see breeze.
“You can’t beat it,” he added.
Each election cycle the county recruits some 10,000 workers to man the in-person centers and help process ballots.
This year around 800 workers will be staffed at the county’s brand new Ballot Processing Center, a 144,000-square-foot warehouse in the City of Industry, where all ballots are to be verified, tallied and stored. Local leaders celebrated its grand opening during a ribbon cutting ceremony on Tuesday.
The County experienced difficulties recruiting enough poll workers in the June 7, 2022 Primary Election, but Registrar-Recorder/Clerk Dean Logan said at Tuesday’s celebration that he does not foresee that being a major challenge this election cycle.
“We’ve been fortunate in that through our partnerships, and I think by having a facility like this where where employees feel like they’re safe and secure, we’ve been able to attract that talent, but it’s something that we monitor very closely,” he said.
The County is still recruiting more workers and in particular Thai, Korea, Gujarati and Khmer speakers, he added. The Registrar-Recorder/Clerk serves voters in a total of 19 languages and voters can request a ballot in any of these languages at vote centers.
To learn more about serving as an election worker visit: https://bit.ly/4a5gIpl
To learn more about options for voting visit: LAVote.gov.
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