Nine days remain until the US presidential election, and the Los Angeles County Registrar has officially opened over a hundred early voting centers for local voters to cast their ballots in person.
The first day of early voting on Saturday saw a diverse turnout of voters from various ethnic backgrounds. At a polling station in the Chinese community of La Puente, Los Angeles, a staff member reported, “On the first day, we had over 170 people come to vote at our location. Many people lined up early in the morning. Today, there are half as many people, but we expect more to come and vote on Monday.”
As of now, over 4.2 million California voters have completed their voting, with the majority opting for mail-in ballots. With an increasing number of early voting centers opening, voters who prefer not to mail their ballots can cast their votes in person at any polling station within their county or deposit their completed paper ballots in designated ballot boxes on-site.
Voter station staff in Los Angeles County remind voters that all paper mail-in ballots must be placed in designated envelopes with the voter’s signature. For US citizens who are not registered voters, they can simply bring identification to the polling station and register on-site to vote.
Starting from Saturday, Los Angeles County has opened 122 early voting centers, with all 648 polling stations in the county set to open from November 2nd, operating from 10 am to 7 pm daily. On Election Day, November 5th, polling stations will be open from 7 am to 8 pm. Voters can locate their nearest polling station online at locator.lavote.gov.
After casting her ballot, Vivian Chen, a Chinese-American voter in Los Angeles, expressed, “This is my first time voting. I did my homework early at home and waited for the early voting centers to open to come and vote immediately.” She added, “With the current trend of gender identity issues, along with problems like ‘zero dollar purchase,’ various forms of violence, illegal immigration, and more, I want to vote to support candidates with traditional and conservative values.”
In addition to Los Angeles County, Orange County has also opened 38 early voting centers, with more locations to open in the coming days. Operating hours are from 8 am to 5 pm from October 26th to November 1st, 8 am to 8 pm from November 2nd to 4th, and 7 am to 8 pm on the 5th. Voters can refer to https://ocvote.gov/elections/vote-center-locations for details.
Riverside County has opened 20 polling stations, and another 130 sites will open on November 2nd. Voters can look up specific locations on the county registrar’s official website.
Ventura County has opened 10 early voting centers, with over 50 more to open on November 2nd. Operating hours are from 9 am to 5 pm from October 26th to November 4th and from 7 am to 8 pm on the 5th.
According to data from the Secretary of State’s office, over 10,000 voters in Southern California’s four counties have personally voted at early voting centers over the past weekend.
The ballot for this election covers a wide range of items, including the presidential election, state propositions, Congressional Representatives for each district, state senators, state assembly members, county judges, and city officials. The Secretary of State encourages voters to vote early.
According to the schedule set by the Secretary of State, all polling stations in California will close after 8 pm on November 5th, with county registrars beginning the counting process. They are required to report the vote count to the Secretary of State at least every two hours until completion.
December 5th is the final day for county registrar offices to confirm election results. On December 6th, county election officials must send complete preliminary election results to the Secretary of State. Once certified, the Secretary of State will publish the final official election results online on the 13th.
If the Secretary of State needs to make amendments to the final election results, they have the authority to do so until April 12, 2025.