As the final ballot count continued after Tuesday's Special Election, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen conceded in the race to fill the vacated 36th Congressional District seat, leaving the runoff to Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn (D) and businessman Craig Huey (R). more ›

Voters had their say in the City and County of Los Angeles yesterday in a trio of close contests. In the City's General Municipal Election, a pair of education runoffs saw narrow triumphs for the Board of Education District 5 seat in the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Community College's 5th Seat. In California's 36th Congressional District, a Republican candidate has upset the Democratic apple cart, giving an L.A. City Councilperson a run for her money in the bid to replace the departed Jane Harman. more ›

Federal Election Day could become a holiday in California, and to get the process going, Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced today that Roy Benson, the proponent of a new initiative, can begin collecting petition signatures for his measure. more ›

On the eve of Jane Harman's expected resignation from Congress, Marcy Winograd is hoping the third time is a charm in her quest to win the 36th Congressional District seat. Winograd, an anti-war activist and high school teacher who lost both of her previous bids for the 36th district seat to Harman, will officially kick off her campaign at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Fox Drugs in Torrance. more ›

California's Secretary of State Debra Bowen is expected to announce her plans to run to replace departing US Rep. Jane Harman in the 36th District, says Politico. Harman recently shocked many by revealing she would step down to take a job "Bowen hails from Marina Del Rey, which is part of the district, and represented the area in the state Assembly and Senate from 1992 to 2006," noted the Sac Bee last week, when rumors of Bowen's interest in the bid first began to circulate. more ›

Last night Jerry Brown was named Governor, Barbara Boxer retained her Senate seat, and Gavin Newsom won the Lt. Governor's race. While who will take Brown's job as Attorney General still remains too tight to call, the rest of the state-level contests have been declared, and, when applicable, in favor of the Democrats. more ›

Thanks to Twitter, we don't need to wait for the news crew to show up to file their story. And thanks to Twitter, Angelenos can proceed with their day knowing our leader, Antonio Villaraigosa, has already done his civic duty and voted: more ›

Compared to the the mid-term election four years ago, the number of people registered to vote has increased by 1.5 million to 17.3 million. But what's a record high here is the 3.5 million voters who have declined to state a party preference, Secretary of State Debra Bowen said today. That beats the previous record raw-number high of 3,465,345, set in February 2009. more ›

Voters in Los Angeles County made a pretty poor showing last month, despite some of the headline-making issues and candidates on the ballot, for the Statewide Direct Primary Election. In fact, L.A. had the lowest turnout of all California counties, with a mere 23.5% of registered voters casting ballots. more ›

A fifth measure qualified for California's November ballot today, Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced this afternoon. If approved by voters, the state could no longer make a habit of raiding tax revenues that fund transportation projects and services in cities and other local jurisdictions. For a local example... more ›

The June 8th Primary Election is less than a month away, however voters who wish to submit their ballot by mail may now do so. County elections officials began mailing ballots to the millions of Californian voters who have opted to vote by mail, and as an email sent out by the office of Secretary of State Debra Bowen notes, it has become "an increasingly popular choice" here. more ›

Elected officials are keeping to a theme today and for good reason -- Denim Day aims to raise awareness about preventing sexual and domestic violence. The Los Angeles City Council this morning officials declared April 2010 as Sexual Assault Awareness Month and today as Denim Day. A few floors above in City Hall, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa a domestic violence initiative and up in Sacramento, Secretary of State Debra Bowen called for passage of legislation that would help the state combat domestic violence. more ›

If you were the LA City Clerks office, there's one elected official you probably want to make sure their vote-by-mail ballot gets to. And that would be the Debra Bowen, California's Secretary of State who is charged with being the state's Chief Elections Officer, among many other important duties. more ›

DEBATE*: The second McCain v. Obama presidential debate takes place tonight at 6 pm. There are a number of debate-watching parties including one at Boulevard 3 in LA organized by pro-Obama groups. There’s a $10 donation at the door. There are a few McCain-Palin parties out there, too. more ›

Schwarzenegger has been signing and vetoing bills all week and has until the end of the day today to finish. Among the bills passed was the transportation sales tax increase proposal on to LA County's ballot and forcing fast food and chain restaurants to post calorie information. Of the bills vetoed, six of them were voter related, something Secretary of State Debra Bowen, who is the state's head election official, is not happy with. more ›

A myriad of groups who oppose banning gay marriage (and who rather not have the fight happen on November's ballot) are suing Secretary of State, Debra Bowen alleging that the signature gathering process to put the proposal on the ballot was flawed (it's now known as Prop 8). One reason Daily Kos explains is that "the description of the proposed initiative in the petitions that were circulated for signature was materially misleading and materially misstated the effect of the proposed initiative to the electors signing the petitions to qualify the measure for the ballot." more ›

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early more ›

We always encourage you to press that little recommend button at the bottom right hand corner of every post if you enjoyed it. For one, it tells us what you want more of here it LAist. So here's this week's five most recommended posts, as recommended by you: more ›

We've been hot on the trail of friend-of-LAist Jacob Soboroff and his Why Tuesday? voting-system reform initiative and 2008 campaign coverage. This morning he sent in an interview with our very own Secretary of State Debra Bowen, who was in New Hampshire yesterday to check out the efficiency of that state's No. 2 pencil-driven computerized voting systems. more ›

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Photo by victoriabernal via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr more ›

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has launched an inquiry into allegations of racism and discrimination within the LAFD. Two men have filed suit against the L.A. Zoo and the city to stop construction of a $40 million elephant exhibit and to prevent it from having elephants on the grounds, alleging instances of abuse and neglect. Bring on the air pollution: the South Coast Air Quality Management District board voted to approve, 8-3, rule changes... more ›