Food lovers who always order dessert: Voting is now open for Food and Wine's The People's Best New Pastry Chef competition, and two Los Angeles up-and-coming sweets stars are in the running for the Best of the West region. more ›

Pending Gov. Jerry Brown's signature, California's vote in the 2012 presidential primary will move from February to June, meaning we'll only have to get to the polls twice next year instead of three times. The state senate voted 34-3 on Thursday to move the date to June and consolidate the presidential primary election with the state primary vote, more ›

Tuesday is a pivotal election day and before you hit the polls, the L.A. County Record-Registrar/County Clerk today is urging people to perform a quick pre-election "to do" list before heading out. Thankfully, it's easy to find a lot information about yourself at their website. First, check to make sure you're registered, download your ballot and locate your polling place. Also, remember that if you vote by mail, the ballot must be received at the office by the end of Tuesday, not simply postmarked Nov. 2. So if you haven't mailed in your ballot yet, your best bet is dropping it off at a polling place. 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 ›

The next time there is a special city council district election in Los Angeles, it could end in dramatically different results. Not necessarily about who is elected (there's a chance of that, though), but regarding turnout. The L.A. City Council today voted to draft an amendment to the election code that would authorize an all vote-by-mail election. more ›

In a city of four million people, how many come out to vote? Unless it's a historic election, not many. And sometimes turnout dwindles to a sad single digit number. That's why two Los Angeles City Councilmembers are trying to encourage more participation through four reforms nicknamed the Los Angeles Voters' Bill of Rights. Three of them must be approved by voters, likely during the March 2011 election, but they first must be approved by the City Council for placement on that ballot. more ›

What happens when you take publicly available data and mix it with your Facebook friends? It could be a recipe for disaster between friends. more ›

The fact that there are more Democrats in Los Angeles County than Republicans (51% to 24% to be exact) is no surprise, but a look into the numbers are nonetheless interesting. Last week Monday, the last day to register to vote and when a major registration drive was setup throughout the county, around 17,000 people signed up. And since September, more than 107,000 signed up -- nearly half of those were first time registrations. more ›

Unlike tax forms, a postmark date on or by election day on an absentee ballot in California does not mean it's eligible. The United States Post Office today encouraged voters to not just voter early (and often), but to also "mail early." And if for some reason you cannot get the ballot into the mailbox on time, voters can hand-deliver their completed ballot in the official envelope to any polling location on November 2nd before 8 p.m. Luckily, there'll be a lot more of those than post offices. more ›

A big push earlier this week resulted in big results. On Monday, which was the last day to register to vote before the November 2nd election, some 17,000 people came out to fill out and turn in forms at more than a dozen registration drives through L.A. County. Before that, over 150,000 voter registration forms were received by the Recorder-Registrar/County Clerk's office. more ›

November 2nd is a big election for Democrats, Republicans, gubernatorial candidates, marijuana, state parks, climate law, the state budget and so much more. To say the least, groups want residents to arm themselves with the right to vote. Today in L.A. County, there will be 11 "drive thru" sites open through midnight (that started at 8 a.m.) where you can register in person. more ›

November 2nd is a big election day for California. Residents will vote on nine propositions and for a number of elected officials, most notably Governor, Attorney General and U.S. Senate. Currently, 16.99 million Californians are registered to vote, but are you? Monday, October 18th is the last day to register. If you need, the Secretary of State's office has put together an informative webpage on registering. more ›

In Los Angeles County, there are 689,307 people who choose to vote by mail permanently. Then add those of the 4.3 million total registered voters who choose to do it, but haven't signed up for the permanent program. more ›

Get your creative juices and rhyming schemes together. Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced the proposition numbers assigned to the 10 measures that will appear on the November 2nd ballot. Of note is Prop 19, which will be followed closely across the country. We're curious what rhyming and/or creative slogans will come out with that one (bad example: "get green with nineteen"). Here's the full list of measures and brief descriptions, compliments of the Center for Governmental Studies here in Los Angeles: more ›

Remember when your parents refused to grant you permission to go to someone's unchaperoned party or on a Spring Break booze-cation to Cancun? "But everyone's going to do it!" you would exclaim, and they would counter with the old turkey about how unlikely you'd be to follow those same friends off some cliff or famous bridge. more ›

The Governor of California ran into some trouble yesterday while casting his ballot in the Statewide Direct Primary. After filling out his ballot at Kenter Canyon Elementary School, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger found it was rejected by the machine since he'd mistakenly marked votes for two Republican Senate candidates, explains KTLA. more ›

Several voters in Venice this morning were either turned away or voted provisionally, reports John Wellington Ennis of Video the Vote. "At the Venice Methodist Church on Lincoln and Victoria in Venice/Mar Vista, there are two tables for two different precincts," he explained. "This morning, only one of those precinct tables was set up and serving voters, while the superintendent of the other table apparently quit and did not deliver the necessary materials — poll books, voting machines, ballots, more." more ›

It's election day, so don't forget to vote and pick up your sticker (which, for the nerdy, is a new design this year!). The L.A. County Recorder-Register/County Clerk launched an election day-based webpage today that makes it easy to figure out your logistics. Need to find your polling place? If you voted by mail, you can track your ballot. Not even sure if you're registered, check here. And as the day goes on and throughout tomorrow, check the results of the races locally. For statewide results, you'll have jump over to the Secretary of State's website. more ›

The left-learning Courage Campaign this week released their progressive voter guide. It not only includes the organization's position on ballot props for the June 8th election, but other groups, too, including California Democratic Party, California Federation of Teachers, California League of Conservation Voters, League of Women Voters, California Nurses Association and even politics blog Calitics. 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 ›

A group of local cyclists have formed a political group focused on cycling issues and candidates at the ballot box. Taking no political sides, the group aims “to help ensure safer streets and a more bike-friendly community for all of us," according to its website. more ›

Most people don't know, but today is election day in the San Fernando Valley for 11 neighborhoods. If you live, work or are otherwise a stakeholder in Canoga Park, Chatsworth, Granada Hills North, Granada Hills South, North Hills West, Northridge East, Northridge West, Porter Ranch, West Hills, Winnetka, and Woodland Hills, you may be eligible to vote. more ›

80 initiatives and referenda and are out and about around the state with advocates trying to collect enough signatures so they can qualify for an upcoming election ballot. You might see people at farmers markets asking you to support... 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 ›

A mini-controversy is already surrounding Republican candidate for California Governor Meg Whitman. The former eBay CEO's first record of voter registration was found in 2002, when she was 46 years old. Whitman has admitted and apologized for the bad example that is her non-voting record, but says she had voted in some elections prior to 2002. However, a Sacramento Bee search of public records could not confirm that. more ›

The L.A. City Clerk is reminding residents of Council District 2--that's Sherman Oaks through Shadow Hills--to register by Tuesday in order to participate in the September 22 special election to fill the seat vacated by Wendy Greuel, who left to become City Controller. more ›

It happens every election, except when that Obama guy shows up: voting turnout is dismal and embarrassing. Now, three bills being considered within the state could make some interesting changes. They won't change things overnight, but two of them deal with those under 17. The most interesting is from Long Beach Assemblyman Warren Furutani. ACA 2 would allow 17-year-olds to vote in a primary if he or she will be 18 by the time of the general election. Another bill, AB 30, from LA State Senator Curren Price would allow 16 and 17-year-olds to pre-register, but they would not be able to vote until they are 18. Price also has AB 106 that would allow you to be registered to vote via your state income tax, drivers license and various other forms. more ›

Voting may be the hallmark of our Democracy, but it should not be our pastime. It should be reserved for regular elections and the off-chance that there is a special and well deserved occasion. We Californians vote way too much for our own good. We are standing in our own way of progress and need to let our leaders do their jobs so we can lead fuller, richer, more productive lives. more ›

Last week's election hardly brought a soul out. 6%, or around 24,000 people, of nearly 400,000 registered voters came out for last week's special election for the 26th district State Senate seat vacated by Mark Ridley-Thomas when he joined the LA County Board of Supervisors. At a cost of around $2.2 million, many are frustrated at how the currently system is set up, which does not encourage participation. more ›

Calm down, not everyone will be voting in each of these, but here's what's up next: more ›