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 ›

Today is election day for the 43rd Assembly District, which spans from the East Valley and into Silver Lake (.pdf map). It's a special election because the seat was vacated by the now-L.A. City Councilmember Paul Krekorian. But Secretary of State Debra Bowen has gotten all nerdy this election day and is offering some trivia. more ›

Today's the big day, the long-awaited one, a sigh of relief as one the nastiest, dirtiest , big money races comes to an end. It's the special runoff election for Council District 2 (CD2), which stretches from Sherman Oaks to the Northeast Valley in the San Fernando Valley. Two candidates, Assemblyman Paul Krekorian and former film industry executive Chris Essel, face off. more ›

Hello, Election Day! Today, Californians decide the fate of the state's budget, or at least the direction of around $5 billion of it. And in Los Angeles, our new City Attorney will be chosen along with a new Councilman for the tony 5th District. Here are a few tips, just in case you need: more ›

As usual with every election, parking will be relaxed next Tuesday, March 3rd when you go vote. Within one block of polling places, parking meters, time limits, permits, street sweeping zones will not be enforced by parking enforcement officers or the LAPD. Just, please, make sure you vote. (Photo: delera-photos) more ›

Free donuts and coffee, long lines at the polls, the "I Voted" sticker, parties, ballots, and headlines... Election Day and Night in Los Angeles as seen through the eyes of the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr.
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By 6:00 p.m. tonight, 72.22% of the roughly 4.3 million registered voters in Los Angeles County have voted. That translates to about 3,105,460 people including those who voted prior to the election via vote-by-mail and early voting in Norwalk. By comparison, 63.51% and 56.04% of registered voters turned out to the polls by 6:00 p.m. in 2004 and 2000, respectively. more ›

Here's one of those great photo juxtaposition Los Angeles moments. A voter marks her ballot this morning as a surfer heads for the water at a polling place at Venice Beach lifeguard headquarters. more ›

A reader writes in about Logan Street Elementary School in Echo Park and to remember to check your color code. "There are two precincts voting here, so make sure you know if you are ORANGE or GREEN (it is next to your address on your Official Sample Ballot - or they can tell you there). Cross your fingers for green, as the orange line is much longer." Save for some power outages, voting problems across LA County seem to be few and far between. Lines are obviously long, but people seem to be in high spirits. Log your experience in the comments section of our earlier post. more ›

Dean C. Logan is the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk for LA County and has released this basic, but helpful op-ed. Although he has a controversial past in his previous post in Washington state, LAist has found Logan to be one of the most accessible politically appointed officials in the region. He and his office are easy to work with, return calls (he makes most of them) and is always looking to make things better, especially since last year's double bubble controversy that sparked when he was the interim county clerk. And now on to his writing: more ›

As City of Los Angeles tradition goes, minor parking infractions will not be enforced on Election Day within one block of a polling place. That doesn't mean you can park like an asshole, but you can park in street cleaning areas, permit parking streets, meters don't have to be fed and time limits at meters will not be enforced. “Now there’s one fewer excuse for not voting,” Mayor Villaraigosa said in a statement. “We are making it easier for people throughout the City to vote, and I encourage everyone to go to the polls next Tuesday and make their voices heard.” more ›

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We've been receiving quite a few voting related questions, so keep on leaving comments asking more. Earlier, we tackled video and photography. Now we clarify some questions regarding Early Voting and Vote-by Mail. more ›

There will be two national voting documentation projects going on during Election Day. Veteran LAist readers may remember one of these groups, Video the Vote, who we teamed up with on Super Tuesday last February to interview Dharma and Greg actor Mimi Kennedy. The second project is the New York Times' Polling Place Photo Project where readers can submit photos of their experience, good or bad. more ›

An estimated 4.2 million of the nearly 10 million residents in Los Angeles County are now registered to vote. On Monday alone, which was the last day to register to vote, almost 20,000 people took part. "The county has already issued 803,122 vote by mail ballots and more than 3,500 voters have visited the Registrar's office in Norwalk to cast early ballots for the presidential election," the Daily News finds. more ›

No, we're not a month ahead of ourselves. Confused? Brian Leubitz at Calitics explains: "While it might not be November 4 yet, today is the day that vote by mail ballots are sent out to the masses. Furthermore, in government buildings across the state, early voting begins today. Folks, every day between now and the 4th is Election Day. While about half of the vote will actually come on election day, in some counties large majorities will vote before E-day." more ›

For over a year now, Los Angeles resident Jacob Soboroff of Why Tuesday? has been traveling the country asking one eponymous question: Why Tuesday? It's to prove that the reason we vote on Tuesdays is outdated and may not be the strongest day for voter participation (the long answer is below). Currently, the Weekend Voting Act is in both the House and the Senate, introduced by Representative Steve Israel (D-NY) and Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), respectively. more ›

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Today is the first day you can sign up to be an absentee voter in California for the Feb.5 Primary. To do so, click here and fill out the form. more ›

LAist had the opportunity to catch up with Jacob Soboroff, Executive Director of Why Tuesday to talk about WT, their upcoming projects and politics. Jacob has worked as a part time advance man for NYC Michael Bloomberg and briefly played the same role for presidential candidate Howard Dean. He moved back from NYC to his hometown of Los Angeles last year, when I first met him, and since returning has video blogged for LA... more ›

The TelePromTer-readers and out-of-touch-hate-mongers of the mainstream media thought that they were being super-cool by discussing/bitching about the presidential candidate debates that were posted on YouTube. So since that new, interesting, and youth-vote promoting aspect of the next election has been talked to death by the talking-heads, I have found these candidate related webpages to occupy me during my early in the ante meridian down-time: At SuperBook.com, you can go to their "Exotic Lines"... more ›

Well, depending on where you live, some of us vote. If you got that Voter Info packet in the mail, it is important that you are one of the numbers talked about in tomorrow's news as one of the few who voted. Here are today's races: - Assembly District 39 (East and Northeast Valley, here's a map) - LAUSD District 3 (lots of Valley) - LAUSD District 7 (parts of South LA to the Harbor)... more ›

We get these e-mail every so often. The ones that go "April 1997, there was a "gas out" conducted nationwide in protest of gas prices. Gasoline prices dropped 30 cents a gallon overnight. On May 15th 2007, all internet users are to not go to a gas station in protest of high gas prices. Gas is now over $3.00 a gallon in most places." That's nice and all, but we rather see it tell people... more ›

Since I was hired to work on one of the LAUSD campaigns as an e-mail marketer, I have been keeping my mouth shut on this blog about it. And I am not going to sit here and tell you why you should vote for my candidate in the runoff election or am I really going to talk about "life on the e-campaign trail," but I am going to tell you that this election was... more ›

Back in November we approved Propositions 1A and 1B, bonds that gave $19.9 billion in transportation funding throughout the state. On Friday, California transportation officials recommended cutting more than $1 billion worth of freeway projects sought for Los Angeles County - including funding for a northbound car-pool lane on the San Diego (405) freeway. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other officials are obviously not pleased and will be asking residents to step it... more ›

There's not a liberal America and a conservative America - there's the United States of America. ~ Barack Obama It's absolutely vital that every one of us votes today. If you're not 100% sure where to go to vote, you can find out easily at Election Protection 365. Last Minute Catch-Up on what we're voting on: LA Weekly | LA Times The 2006 LAist Award for Election Coverage goes to Green LA Girl. Her... more ›

True Football David Beckham to join the Los Angeles soccer scene? Vote Tomorrow There's some confusion over voter trouble tomorrow. CBS2 helps you prepare. Over at City Hall Zuma Dogg over at Mayor Sam is following the medical marijuana dispensary story. The City disses their own Godfather of blogging. The City also disses the killing of animals for a weekend: In an demonstration of commitment to lifesaving for the homeless animals of Los Angeles,... more ›

It's not even Tuesday and Prop R is history. But thanks to Marty and Doc, we totally know. Why go to the future to get rich off stocks when you can just plan parties over Election Day results? The people behind NCs Opposed to Prop R/Not PropR Committee (NC is lingo for Neighborhood Council) will be partying it up in the lounge at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel. "You are cordially invited to join members... more ›

Simple, clear purpose and principles give rise to complex and intelligent behavior. Complex rules and regulations give rise to simple and stupid behavior. ~ Dee Hock Tunnel vision the keywords “Los Angeles city council” in the past few months and one might think LA is corrupt beyond belief. Sure, sketchy things happen: term limits on tomorrow's ballot attached to an ethics reform proposal, Brown Act questions, raised fees and raised salaries. But try this:... more ›

Time flies when you're not registered to vote. more ›