Photo by joebeone via Flickr 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 It's to prove that the reason we vote on Tuesdays is outdated and may not be the strongest day for voter participation (the long answer is below).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......

Some people never give up. This November, Californians will vote on Proposition 4, which would require doctors to notify the parents of teens who have requested abortion services. Sound familiar? That's because Prop 4 is nearly identical to Props 73 and 85, which voters already rejected in two consecutive elections (2005 and 2006). It would amend the California state constitution to reflect the following: ...a physician shall not perform an abortion upon a pregnant unemancipated......

Since many are so hopeful that we can get weed legalized for everyone in California, we thought we would share with you what happened in 2006. From the trends you can see below, fewer and fewer people see marijuana as a "bad, evil, boogie-man that will unravel society as we know it."...

Photo by hjl via Flickr On June 3rd, California went to the polls, voting on representatives and various bits of legislation, most notably Props 98 and 99. It was a real race for those of those measures, both had real potential for real change, whether it was for the better or worse. But voters also voted for Congressmen such Howard Berman and Henry Waxman. The choices were simple (because choice was not a choice......

Left: Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas, Right: City Councilman Benard Parks | Photos from their respective websites Yesterday's most contentious race was that for the seat for the 2nd District on the County Board of Supervisors. Considered a highly-paid and powerful lifetime position once you're seated, the race between California State Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas and LA City Councilman (former LAPD Chief), Bernard Parks was extremely heated. With a mostly South LA constituency, no candidate took the......

The June 3 election had a meager turnout compared to February 5th's Super Tuesday primary and the expected numbers for the upcoming November presidential contest. Statewide, there are 16,123,787 registered voters and only 3,583,827 people, or 22.2%, came out to the polls in California, where the population was last estimated at 36,457,549 by the US Census Bureau. Locally, Los Angeles County had a lower turnout percentage -- 16.48%. 663,625 ballots were casted out of a......

With 1% (59) of Los Angeles County precincts reporting, Proposition 98 was losing and Proposition 99 was winning within the county. Statewide (where it ultimately counts), Secretary of State Debra Bowen's website was reporting similar outcomes (and margins) for the propositions with 5.9% precincts reporting as of an 8:17 p.m. update. Related: Basic Prop 98/99 Background Graphic Charts via LA County Registrar/Clerk......

After LA County's troubles with the ballot on California's Super Tuesday, today's election ballot made it clear that this is not happening again. "Nonpartisan voters are no longer required to mark an additional bubble to crossover," the NP ballot reads. On February 5, initial reports said 50,000 votes could have been thrown out due to the confusing crossover bubble, known as the double bubble, nonpartisan voters had to check in order to vote in......

In late May, HBO premiered it's original movie Recount, something this author thinks is an award worthy flick. It looks into the 2000 election woes in Florida, something the film does extremely well (it's on HBO Demand if you missed it). And if the Sunshine State's rainy month in the spotlight was not enough, Super Tuesday 2008 in California had its own troubles (fortunately, a good portion was corrected). Today, Californians go out to......

Photo by toastycakes via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr In an attempt to avoid the voter confusion rampant in the state during this year's Super Tuesday balloting, LA County officials are doing their best to educate the public about the InkaVote Plus system, including the audio options for disabled and multilingual voters. It seems "fire season" in the Southland is now a year-round thing. After yesterday's Griffith Park fire comes news of another......

In a first of its kind study released today, it was found that potential immigrant voters and their children could constitute nearly one-third of state voters by 2012, according to the LA Times. The analysis detailed populations in each of the state's legislative districts. At 2.7 million immigrants, Los Angeles County had the highest number of potential voters, those that are "naturalized U.S. citizens, legal immigrants eligible for citizenship and their children ages 12 to......

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Who looks and studies the sample ballot? We all know how to vote, right? Well, after Super Tuesday's "double bubble" controversy (which was thankfully solved for the most part), it might be good to brush up on those bubble filling skills. And LAist Featured Photos contributor coffeextv found this statement upon looking through the sample ballot: "Shall Los Angeles County be declared the sun and leisure capitol of the world?" The photo is titled......

The Daily Breeze has the low-down on the latest from Super Tuesday's ugly non-partisan voting mishap where nearly 50,000 votes went uncounted because of a tricky "double bubble" on ballots. Los Angeles County registrar Dean Logan has announced more than 50% of uncounted votes will be counted. Here are the technical details: The omission of the additional mark did not affect ballots cast purely for state propositions. Of the estimated 200,000 nonpartisan voters, 50 percent......

Celtics 104, Clippers 76 - The NBA's top team won last night in the Staples Center, and it wasn't the Lakers. Boston, now an NBA-best 43-12, was just too much for the Clippers. Chris Kaman sat out once again, dropping LA's record to 1-6 without the big man in their lineup. Sam Cassell was also injured and watched from the bench. Kevin Garnett, one of five Celtics to hit double digits, was recently named by......

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early The electronic voting machine company, Diebold, has accidently leaked the results of the 2008 Election. Still, the company and the country will go on with the election to please the people. "This country is based on the fantasy that the government is the voice of the people," one Diebold representative said. Related on LAist (and in reality) -- Secretary of State Debra Bowen Checks Out NH Voting......

From Why Presidents’ Day? via Why Tuesday? No, not tomorrow Tuesday... the first Tuesday of November, aka Election Day. Why Tuesday? Executive Director and local Los Angeles politico Jacob Soboroff reports from Queens, New York asking why can Presidents' Day, a federal holiday, be moved around for convenience, but Election Day remains a regular workday. Is it not that important? LAist: If election reform successfully moved election day to a Saturday, what would that......

It's better news than yesterday's estimate of 100,000 votes not to be counted. In a LA Times article today, acting County Registrar, Dean Logan, was very honest and straightforward about the situation that took place last Tuesday: "We want voters to know that we hear loud and clear that this ballot layout is confusing and we need to identify a less confusing method for crossover voting for future primaries," he told the Times. The lost......

An Op-Ed follow up to this morning's news... Via The LA Times, it seems all is not well with LA's super Tuesday results: Across Los Angeles County, many nonpartisan voters who cast ballots in the Democratic primary have learned to their dismay that their votes in the presidential contest did not matter. ... {California Democratic Party spokesman} had harsh words for L.A. County's voting system. "It's a terrible ballot design," he said. "It requires the......

Both the Democrat and American Independent parties held open primaries on Super Tuesday. Voters who declined to state an affiliation were handed a "nonpartisan" ballot and were allowed to select a presidential candidate in either of the open primaries. The Los Angeles Times is reporting today that a large number of those voters in LA County may have failed to mark a special bubble on their ballots which could mean their votes won't be counted:......

It's pretty simple- he got the most states and the most delegates. That's it. Sure, Hillary had her voting demographic victories last night, with Hillary keeping Latino support and Hillary did get New York and California, but at the end of the day those things are only important as the delegates they get you. Clinton's Northeast Sweep didn't pan out as well as hoped, with Connecticut going to Barack. Speaking of Connecticut, Obama had......

He tried to vote for Ron Paul, but couldn't LA Times headline: Few election glitches, except for independents Daily News headline: L.A. County ballot flaw could void hundreds of thousands of votes CNN was streaming video from inside a polling place all day long in California (we think Fullerton). In training for poll inspectors by the county registrar, video taping guidelines were reported inconsistent according to election activist and Dharma & Greg actor Mimi......

Yes, kids, Clinton took the state for the Dems, and McCain nabbed a GOP victory here in California, but the rest of yesterday's ballot had some very important propositions and measures on the line. Here's how things shook out:Proposition 91 (Gasoline Tax): DEFEATED Proposition 92 (Community College costs lowered): DEFEATED Proposition 93 (Term Limits): DEFEATED Propositions 94-97 (Indian Gaming): PASSED LA City Proposition S (the "phone tax" prop): PASSED Area-specific Measures: Measure B, a communications......

Calling it the "double bubble" where Decline-To-State/Non-Partisan voters had to ink a Democratic bubble at the top of their card in order for their ballot to count, Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo called on the Los Angeles County Registrar and California Secretary of State to review and make sure the intent of everyone's vote counted. "In Los Angeles County alone, 776,000 voters are susceptible to double bubble trouble," Why Tuesday? writes in a......

Don't forget: LAist Super Tuesday Election Party tonight at Seven Grand! Details and RSVP here. Did you have any problems voting in Los Angeles today? The Los Angeles Times and LAist report on problems in the precincts, especially for non-partisan voters. Is it still a long strange trip if it's only just begun? The last remaining members of the Grateful Dead are reuniting tonight in San Francisco to show their support for Obama. The......

Video by Zach Behrens/LAist LAist and Video The Vote teamed up to visit Dharma & Greg/Pump Up The Volume actor Mimi Kennedy over at her Van Nuys polling location where she is the poll inspector. She also happens to be the National Chair of the Progressive Democrats of America and sits on the California Election Protection Network. In the video, see the spot you're supposed to check if you are registered as a non-partisan......

Crazy super Tuesday. So excited. I showed up at my polling place, Emerson Junior High School around 10am today. No crowds, I took the day off of work and took my time getting over there. I went inside to find 5 voting officials with a cumulative age of 496 yakking to each other and paying absolutely no attention to me, the ballots, or the voting booths. There was a middle aged woman there in......

It's just another day at the beach for this polling place in Marina Del Rey, where volunteers hand out fresh-baked goodies to the voters and are hosting a BBQ for the poll workers. Unfortunately, not everything is picture-perfect around Los Angeles. As reported earlier on LAist, Decline-to-State voters (a/k/a DTS, a/k/a non-partisan, a/k/a "real" independent) must be extra careful to mark their ballots correctly if they choose to vote in either the Democratic or......

In a quite quickly put-together press conference slated for 2:00 p.m. today at the First Street Steps at City Hall, Councilmen Eric Garcetti and Dennis Zine will be reminding voters that if you're nonpartisan or 'decline to state,' you must mark the box at the top of the ballot if you want to vote for an American Independent or Democratic candidate. Unconfirmed field reports are saying that the LA County Registrar is expecting to disqualify......

This morning at Elysian Elementary in Echo Park | Photo by Andy Sternberg/LAist *UPDATE, 5:33 P.M.: More problems continue throughout LA County at the beach, in Santa Monica. At Los Angeles City Hall, two City Councilmembers had an emergency press conference telling voters to pay attention when voting and Dharma & Greg Actor Mimi Kennedy explains what's going on in a video interview with LAist. Also, Hillary Clinton answered our interview questions. We're getting......