Topline:
California is often knocked by the rest of the country as being "slow" to count votes. But here's the deal: that's a feature, not a bug, of the election system.
The context: Things take a while here largely because California works so hard to expand the ways people can vote.
Keep reading... for more details on what to expect.
Election Day is here, but now comes the waiting.
Do you have something to watch on Netflix? Maybe you've been meaning to pick up a hobby — how about crochet? Whatever you do, take a deep breath and keep busy because it could be days (or weeks) before we get some California election results.
The state is often knocked by the rest of the country as being "slow" to count votes. But here's the deal: That's a feature, not a bug, of the election system.
Things take a while here largely because California works so hard to expand the ways people can vote. For example:
But things have sped up considerably in the 26 counties that have adopted a 2016 law called the Voter's Choice Act, including L.A., Orange, and Riverside counties. In the 2020 and 2022 elections, the changes associated with that law — like voters not being locked into a designated polling location — drastically cut down the number of provisional ballots cast, which helped move things along faster than they had before.
Still, accuracy and a commitment to "expanding the franchise" — translation: allowing more people to vote — means the process is not designed to produce instantaneous results.
As you watch these results, keep in mind:
Get full results:
Keep in mind that in tight races the winner may not be determined for days or weeks after Election Day. This is normal. Here's why.
In California, ballots postmarked on or before Nov. 5 are counted toward the results as long as they arrive within seven days of the election. The California Secretary of State's Office is scheduled to certify the final vote on Dec. 13.
You'll have to get that endorphin hit elsewhere on Nov. 5.
A few things to keep in mind: You may recall that during the 2024 primary, it took about week to call the results for L.A. City Council races in District 4, where incumbent Nithya Raman was fighting to avoid a runoff election, and District 14, where challenger Ysabel Jurado wound up overtaking incumbent Kevin de León by just a few hundred votes.
It took an even longer 15 days to call the results of Prop. 1, during which opponents conceded, walked back that concession, and conceded again when the measure won by a razor-thin 0.4% margin. And it took 23 days to call the second-place winner for Orange County's 45th congressional district — it ultimately went to Democrat Derek Tran, who faces off against first-place winner and Republican incumbent Michelle Steel on Nov. 5.
It's fair to expect some of the same this year, depending on how close some of these races end up being.
TL;DR: Officially, county election officials have until Dec. 5 to certify election results, and the state has until Dec. 13 to certify the statewide vote — including a mandatory audit that requires hand-counting all of the ballots at 1% of precincts. Nevertheless, you're going to see a lot of national media headlines about California's relative "slowness." Brush it off. We have sunshine, beaches, and a highly enfranchised population.
Want results and analysis sent directly to your inbox instead of having to keep hitting refresh? Sign up for our short-term newsletter Make It Make Sense.
This story was originally reported and written in 2020 and has been updated several times, including for the March primary, with current information. Libby Denkmann contributed to the original report.
Topline:
Homelessness among families in the L.A. area has been getting worse and navigating housing instability is a constant challenge.
The backstory: In 2025, nearly three quarters of families in California with young children struggled to meet a basic need such as housing or utilities, according to a survey by the Stanford Center on Early Childhood — one of the highest levels since 2022. And resources for unhoused families have become increasingly scarce, too.
In their words: We spoke to five families with young children in Southern California who spoke of how they ended up struggling to stay housed. They shared varied experiences of navigating housing stability in L.A., but all expressed a similar sentiment — the emotional weight of protecting their children and the visceral longing to preserve their kids’ childhoods.
Read on ... for their stories.
Homelessness among families with children has been growing.
In California, more than 74,000 children under age 4 experienced homelessness between 2022 and 2023, up from the year before, according to a report by SchoolHouse connection. The study found a similar dynamic across the United States.
Resources for unhoused families have become increasingly scarce, too, amid rising economic stress. Last year, the vast majority of families in California with young children struggled to meet a basic need such as housing or utilities, according to a survey by the Stanford Center on Early Childhood — one of the highest levels in years.
We spoke to five families with young children in Southern California who spoke of how they ended up struggling to stay housed, whether because of a job loss that depleted hard-earned savings, an eviction after a spike in rent, or escape from a home of domestic abuse.
They shared varied experiences of navigating housing stability in L.A., but all expressed a similar sentiment — the emotional weight of protecting their children and the visceral longing to preserve their kids’ childhoods.
(LAist is using first names only because of concerns around safety and potential ramifications.)
The repurposed motel room where Erika stays with her two children is bare in furnishings, but she’s laid down shaggy rugs and decorated the bunk beds with bright comforters. Her 8-year-old daughter’s bunk is covered in Hello Kitty decor.
“Here, in this room, it doesn't feel like I’m homeless,” she said.
It’s not Erika's first time in this shelter near Koreatown. The first was with her children’s father about two years ago after they were evicted. Their one-bedroom apartment in Crenshaw went from $1,200 to $1,800.
They had a baby boy while at the shelter, and moved out to Section 8 housing. But about a year ago, Erika took her children and left, breaking a cycle of domestic strife at the cost of becoming homeless again.
“I’m not going to have DCFS (the Department of Child and Family Services) come and take my kids from both of us because we’re fighting and we’re toxic,” she said. “I don't know where I would be right now if I didn't have this place. I would probably be in the street with my kids, or I probably wouldn't even have custody of my kids.”
Erika isn’t new to the foster care system. She herself entered foster care when she was 12 years old because of her mother’s drug addiction.
“I just knew that I didn't want to give the lifestyle that I was given to my children,” she said.
She shares custody of her children, and pines for the days where she’s with them. She’ll buy coloring supplies for her daughter from Ross across the street. Her 2-year-old son is busy climbing the beds and running around.
“I may not be rich, but I feel like seeing my daughter paint and draw, that makes me rich,” she said. “Even little things like reading my kid a book at night. As funny as this sounds, like no one read me a book.”
She said she’s working on going to school and getting her real estate license. She hopes to secure low-income housing. Research shows economic hardship — tied to the high cost of housing — is a primary driver of homelessness.
“Los Angeles is not a fairy tale, you know?” she said. “I know it's temporary. I know one day I'll get my house. I know one day, I'm gonna be cooking with my daughter watching ‘Cocomelon.’ One day, but I know I’m trying. I’m trying.”
When Jessica fled her abusive husband, pregnant and with her two young boys, she told them they were on an adventure. They sought shelter in hotels.
“I would try to make it as fun as I could,” Jessica says. “I kept them entertained — a lot of jumping on the bed, a lot of just having fun or playing with their toys or being outside, like parks — just try to only be there when it was time to eat, shower and go to bed.”
But it wasn’t ideal for parenting. She couldn’t store groceries, the weekly rates were expensive, and transient visitors made it a less-than-ideal environment for her two kids.
“[It was] a never-ending rollercoaster,” she recalled.
After about six months, she got in touch with House of Ruth, a nonprofit that supports survivors of domestic violence, that helped her find housing and help with a portion of her rent. Domestic violence is one of the leading causes of homelessness among women.
But that help was time-limited, and she faced eviction after falling a month and a half behind on her payments.
When you see families, mothers and fathers with children and they're on the street or they're in shelters, it's not by the lack of effort, it's by the lack of resources and rent.
“I was literally losing it. I didn't know if we were gonna be in the middle of the streets. I don't have family. I don't. It's just me and my kids,” she said, echoing a sentiment LAist heard from other families.
She was able to get rental help from a homeless prevention program through another nonprofit — a program designed to help families stay in their homes. That’s since ended, and now, she rents a house from a church in an L.A. suburb at a discount.
When LAist visited in January, Jessica had just moved into the two-bedroom. Her three young children — 7 and under — share the master bedroom. Her favorite part of her new house is a kitchen bar counter.
“The kids are really enjoying just sitting there and watching me cook and it feels like a hibachi restaurant,” she said.
When her kids are in school, she juggles three part-time jobs — at the church nearby, cleaning houses, and as a substitute teacher. She’s also in school full-time working toward a degree in healthcare administration. She wakes up at 2:30 in the morning and works on her schoolwork until her kids wake up around 6.
“They'll never see a time where like I'm crying or something like that. They always see me joking around with them, laughing with them, doing something with them,” she said.
“The most important thing is keeping a roof over my kids’ heads,” she added. “When you see families, um, mothers and fathers with children and they're on the street or they're in shelters, it's not by the lack of effort, it's by the lack of resources and rent.”
Marie glanced at her phone, which has a timer of the days, hours, minutes she’s been sober.
“ I've been clean for 11 months, 12 days, 11 hours and 20 minutes,” she said.
Marie held her 4-month-old daughter, who blinked contently in the beam of the afternoon sun.
Last July, Marie was living in a “tiny home” in North Hollywood with her partner when she found out she was pregnant. She stopped using meth immediately.
“I was a drug addict for 25 years and stopped completely because of my daughter,” she said.
If your family doesn't have a safe place to stay, the Los Angeles County Coordinated Entry System (CES) is the county's front door for housing help. Instead of calling shelters one by one, you reach out once and the system works to connect you to shelter and services in your area based on what your family needs.
Demand is high, so there can be a wait, officials say.
You can enter the system by:
The organizations below partner with L.A. county's CES to support families experiencing homelessness:
Antelope Valley
San Fernando Valley
San Gabriel Valley
Central Los Angeles
West Los Angeles
South Los Angeles
South Bay/Harbor
East Los Angeles
Marie became homeless about three years ago after being in and out of jail. She’d been arrested for identify fraud and larceny. With no family nearby, she began living in her truck. “It was not easy. Living homeless is not for the weak at all,” she said. Marie also lives with bipolar disorder.
She and her partner were able to move into a tiny home, which she said, at the time, was “awesome” — until she was pregnant.
“I was like, OK listen I’m about to pass out. There’s not enough ventilation there.” At seven months pregnant, she moved into a family shelter in San Fernando Valley, a 100-unit former motel. “Moving here was a luxury and a breath of fresh air.” Her water broke in their room about a month before her due date. Her baby spent 10 days in the neonatal intensive care unit. “She’s been doing great ever since.”
Pregnancy while homeless is common. A study from UC San Francisco in 2023 found that 1 in four unhoused women between 18 and 44 years old in California was pregnant. They’re also less likely to access prenatal resources.
Marie soaked in her daughter’s recent developments. Just days ago, the newborn haze cleared from her eyes and she looked up at her mom. “ And then she got this big old grin on her face. And it, I swear to God, it was the single most rewarding feeling in my life because she looked at me like she was falling in love with me for the first time,” she said.
In a few weeks, Marie said, they’ll be moving out of the shelter to a two-bedroom apartment in Van Nuys, where she’ll have permanent supportive housing, a program that helps pay for housing people living with mental illness. There, she’ll pay 30% of the rent. She said she plans to drive Uber part-time, so she can take her daughter around. She said she also wants to work in the field of homeless services after her experience and because of the people who helped her.
As for what she’s looking forward to in her new home for her baby? “Everything ... I’m excited to watch her grow.”
When Wayne lost his job two years ago in A/V tech support, he had $30,000 saved up — enough to stay afloat for at least a little whil. But months went by, and the job market was brutal. Soon, they ran out of money and lost their one-bedroom apartment in L.A.
He and his partner stayed in and out of motels and in their car with their 4-year-old son at the time. “The first time we slept in the car it was really, really hot, and [the son] ended up with heat rashes all over his back,” he said.
Thousands of Angelenos use cars as shelter. Although it’s difficult to get an exact number, a recent Homeless Count found more than 23,000 people live in a vehicle on any given night.
His son, A., has autism and struggled to sleep. “He hates it,” Wayne said, who wanted to use the first initial of his son's name. “The only way he'll sleep in the car is if he's literally on, usually my lap.” LAist interviewed Wayne last fall, and chronicled his story.
But during the days, he would take A. to the park or the library, playing with him and his car toys.
“The most important thing is trying to make sure he basically is comfortable as much as possible, that he's [having] fun, that he's not really understanding what's going on — which I think we're doing a good job [at] so far,” Wayne said.
After months of searching, Wayne got a job out of state late last year — and left California, where was born and raised. They moved into a home in the dead of winter. His son ran into every room, exploring.
“He was kind of standing there for a bit, just kind of blank stare, and then I told him, ‘It's our home,’ and he smiled,” Wayne said. He said after months of living in their car, his son was still getting used to having a home.
“We left to go to the store earlier today, and he didn't wanna leave. He said ‘bye-bye’ to the house and started crying. He didn't wanna leave,” Wayne said. “He just wants to be inside. I think he just wants to take in — the stability of being inside."
Diana and her three children came to the U.S. from Venezuela two years ago, settling in L.A.. The economic collapse there has led to nearly 7.9 million Venezuelans leaving the country, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency.
She said her family went hungry far too often. “ Es duro como mamá que los hijos le piden comida a uno y porque es horrible cuando un hijo le pide comida a uno y uno no tenga," she said through tears, hurt that she couldn't give her children food when they asked for it.
Desperate, she left with her kids, two of them teenagers — traveling through the notorious Darién Gap, a 70-mile stretch of jungle between Colombia and Panama where hundreds of thousands of migrants have crossed in recent years — and where the number of deaths is largely known to be undercounted.
Children under 5 have been the fastest-growing group of migrants crossing the treacherous terrain. Diana and her children traveled for months.
"Pasado mucha necesidad de, este, la cual el, en la selva, la selva del Darién," she said, talking about the hardships faced crossing the Darién jungle. She said there were many rapes, deaths and murders.
When they got to Mexico, they lived on the streets.
" Andando en la calle, durmiendo en la calle, pidiendo limosna," she said. You go hungry, you live on the street, you just keep going.
After staying in motels in L.A., Diana found a temporary family shelter where her family shares one room, including with their 1-year-old dog Dulce.
She and her husband make minimum wage, cleaning at a factory that makes burritos, and are trying to figure out how to afford rent on their own. They’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, living on $16 an hour for a family of five when the median rent in the Los Angeles Metro area is over $2,000.
She says she's grateful they're in a better spot, not out on the street — but as a mother, she wants to give her children the best.
"Yo me imagínese que mi hijo me diga: 'Mamá, ¿y entonces para qué me sacaste de allá? ¿A tenernos aquí, porque en estas cuatro paredes?'" — "I can just imagine my son telling me, 'Mom, why did you take me out of there? Just to have us here, inside these four walls?'"
But she said here, her kids aren’t starving. They have food, and are going to school. Her oldest is enrolled in a summer program that has field trips across the city.
Still, recent news about immigration and mass deportations have her on edge.
"No hay comida en mi país no hay y no me gustaría volver," she said. There's no food left in her home country. And that's what causes her anguish and anxiety: Getting caught by immigration, she and her family getting deported. "A veces me pone, me llena de angustia, de ansiedad, de eso, de saber de eso que me lleno."
She said she prays for protection over her and her children.
"Es en los manos de Dios," she said.
It’s in God’s hands.
Topline:
With KNX's shift last month back to AM radio only, we asked Southern Californians to share their memories of listening to the radio.
Why now: Back in April, broadcast company Audacy announced it was moving KNX News — one of the last-remaining all-news FM stations — off 97.1 FM, but keeping the long-running news format on 1070 AM where it's been for more than 100 years. The move officially happened in May to make way for a new sports talk station.
A radio time capsule: AirTalk, LAist's flagship daily news show which airs on 89.3 FM, asked listeners to share their favorite memories of listening to the radio.
Continue reading... for vintage photos from The Los Angeles Public Library's digital archive collections highlighting Southern California's rich radio history.
Southern California was built on radio.
"I can still hear the jingle KFWB News 98,” wrote Taline in Los Feliz, during a recent conversation on LAist's daily news show, AirTalk, which airs on 89.3 FM. “I grew up hearing that in my dad's minivan on the way to and from school. It has a special place in my heart.”
Back in April, broadcast company Audacy announced KNX News — one of the last-remaining all-news FM stations — was leaving the FM dial where it had simulcast on 97.1 FM since 2021. The station, which is also one of the oldest in L.A., is not budging from 1070 AM where it has been on the air for more than 100 years. The move away from FM officially happened in May to make way for a new sports talk station, which Audacy officials called an area of growth for advertisers in today’s media landscape.
The move is one in a long line of changes for radio and a reminder that before podcasts, playlists and algorithms, many Southern Californians built their days around radio broadcasts.
Larry Mantle, now in his 41st year hosting AirTalk, remembers being a kid and dreaming of what it might be like to be behind the mic at one of these radio stations.
“ I grew up with KNX," he said. “My dream job as a kid was to be an anchor on KNX or KFWB, the two local all-news radio stations, 'cause there was nothing like hosting AirTalk that even existed at that point.”
Mantle opened up the phone lines on a recent show to hear from his fellow SoCal radio lovers about the shows they miss and the memories they have. Here's what they had to say:
“When you'd walk down Hollywood Boulevard where the station was, you could hear it playing as you went down the street,” said Olivia in Glendale about KLAC 570 with Al Jarvis.
Larry in Yorba Linda shouted out KBCA Jazz for its 24-hour jazz, saying “When I first moved out here in '68 from Phoenix, which had like an hour a week, it was a real wonder.”
Mark in Glassell Park emailed that he loves KCRW’s Henry Rollins, writing, “I used to bristle at his unique DJ persona, but over time, I came to love him and his crazy eclectic playlists. I find his knowledge in history and punk rock fascinating. He's a gem and a legend."
"I'd like to give a shout-out to all the DJs working at KXLU, the college station at Loyola Marymount University, said Jeremy in Culver City in an email. “That station's been on the air for nearly 60 years. I believe it's one of the best examples of what's possible with radio."
"KFWB and KRLA back in the day when they were rock music stations — Dr. Demento, one of my favorite on-air personalities, also had eclectic music taste," said Carrie in Desert Edge.
“ Dr. Demento was must listening when I was a kid in junior high school at Le Conte Junior High in Hollywood,” Mantle added. “Every Sunday night on KMET, we would make sure we were listening to Dr. Demento and his funny records.”
Listener support is vital to any radio station, and it’s clear KNX has many lifelong fans. AirTalk listeners highlighted their support for household KNX names over the decades like Bill Keene, Melinda Lee, Mike Roy and Jackie Olden.
As KNX makes changes, many are watching closely and thinking about the future of radio.
Listeners like Tommy in La Quinta are left wondering if the radio dial will be the same…
“I’m a hardcore listener, but I don't know about casual listeners [and] if they'll tune to AM,” he said.
Topline:
After months of hand-wringing, Los Angeles and LA28 have come to a tentative agreement on how Olympics organizers will reimburse the city for its expenses for the 2028 Summer Games.
What's in the deal? The private Olympic organizing committee will pay upfront for the estimated cost of services that are not eligible for federal reimbursement, like trash pick-up and traffic control. Under another proposal, the city would also be able to tap an LA28 contingency fund if it isn't fully repaid by the federal government for policing costs at Olympic venues.
What happens now: The agreement is nearly nine months overdue and still needs approval by Mayor Karen Bass and the city council. The City Council's ad-hoc committee on the 2028 Games will meet Tuesday afternoon to vote on the agreement.
Concerns remain: The contract between the two parties doesn't fully resolve one of the biggest areas of financial risk for the city: the enormous cost of security for an event as extensive and high-profile as the summer Olympics and Paralympics.
Read on...for more on concerns over security costs for 2028.
After months of hand-wringing, Los Angeles and LA28 have come to a tentative agreement on how Olympics organizers will reimburse the city for its expenses for the 2028 Summer Games.
According to the deal, the private Olympic organizing committee will pay upfront for the estimated cost of services that are not eligible for federal reimbursement, like trash pick-up and traffic control. Under another proposal, the city would also be able to tap an LA28 contingency fund if it isn't fully repaid by the federal government for policing costs at Olympic venues.
The agreement is nearly nine months overdue and still needs approval by Mayor Karen Bass and the City Council.
The 2028 Olympics are intended to be privately financed, and an existing city agreement with LA28 states that the Olympics organizers, not L.A., will pay for extra costs for public services in support of the Games. But L.A. is the financial back-stop for the Olympics, meaning if LA28 goes in the red, taxpayers will pick up the bill.
Beyond that, the city services agreement presents another area where L.A. could incur additional unexpected expenses for hosting the Games. L.A. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez warned LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover earlier this year that a bad deal could "bankrupt" the city.
Jacie Prieto Lopez, an LA28 spokesperson, and Paul Krekorian, who leads the city's office of major events, said in statements that the freshly inked agreement would help deliver a fiscally responsible Games.
"Mayor Bass’ priority is that the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games be fiscally responsible, protect taxpayers, and benefit Angelenos for decades to come. This agreement helps deliver that commitment," Krekorian said.
But the contract between the two parties doesn't fully resolve one of the biggest areas of financial risk for the city: the enormous cost of security for an event as extensive and high-profile as the summer Olympics and Paralympics.
Organizers are counting on the federal government to pay for public safety at Olympic venues that are considered part of a "national special security event." That includes costs for LAPD staffing. LA28 has not included security costs in its $7.1 billion budget — a fact that City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto criticized earlier this year.
The federal government has so far allocated $1 billion for security costs for the Olympics. Exactly where those federal funds will go has not yet been determined, and there's no guarantee they will cover all of L.A.'s policing costs.
To address this, city officials have also proposed an amendment to a 2021 agreement between the city and LA28. That amendment would establish that if L.A. is not reimbursed by the federal government for all its eligible expenses, it could dip into LA28's contingency fund of $270 million before the private organizing committee could use those funds for any legacy projects.
But that bucket of money will first be used for any costs that Olympics organizers still owe if they run out of revenue — meaning if the Olympics don't turn a profit, the city's access to that money will depend on how much is left for the taking.
Civil rights attorney Connie Rice, who has been tracking the city's negotiations with LA28, told LAist the agreement was a "PR document" not a deal. She pointed out that if the federal government does not pay up for security spending as expected, L.A. could be in trouble.
" It leaves the taxpayers with a GoFundMe strategy," she said.
The city services agreement lays the groundwork for more negotiations between LA28 and the city. Each venue will require its own agreement, to be negotiated by July 1, 2027. Venues in the city of L.A. include Dodger Stadium, the L.A. Convention Center, L.A. Memorial Coliseum and the Venice Beach Boardwalk.
The City Council's ad-hoc committee on the 2028 Games will meet Tuesday afternoon to vote on the agreement.
Topline:
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass signed a pair of executive orders Monday to ramp up efforts to clean the mess left by the fire that burned for a week at a Boyle Heights warehouse.
Why now: Since the warehouse fire was put out, the 85 million pounds of frozen food stored inside is now rotting, spreading foul smells throughout surrounding neighborhoods and raising concerns about an influx of pests. Residents have also been left with worries about air and water contamination after the fire and possible long-term public health effects.
Spoiled food removal: Bass and city officials said Monday the warehouse owner, Lineage, began moving food debris on Sunday to landfills in Ventura and Riverside counties. The company predicts it will take 5,000 truckloads to remove it all.
Reducing odors: Lineage plans to apply a chemical deodorizer, likely chlorine dioxide, to the food, debris and trucks leaving the warehouse. It’s also installing devices within the warehouse that will spray mist over the food inside until it is moved.
Pest control: Lineage is responsible for pest management inside the warehouse, while the city of Los Angeles is responsible for it outside the warehouse. Both have hired private contractors to manage pest control.
Air and water testing: The South Coast Air Quality Management District is overseeing efforts to measure harmful material in the air and posting data to its online air quality map. Lineage also hired private contractor Onterris to monitor air quality in the community surrounding the warehouse, with South Coast AQMD’s oversight. The Los Angeles Department of Sanitation has been monitoring water flowing from the site since firefighting operations began. It’s using a variety of methods, including containment tanks and catch basins, to divert the runoff into the sewer and prevent it from flowing into the L.A. River.
What’s next: Bass’ two executive orders are intended to accelerate cleanup efforts, protect residents and hold accountable the companies responsible for the facility and its safety. One order directs the Fire Department to report on its investigation into the cause of the fire within 90 days. The orders also include a number of provisions to help Boyle Heights residents and businesses, including free public transit, financial assistance and expanded public health resources.
Why it matters: Officials and advocates have called for transparency around the cleanup, especially because they say the neighborhood has been historically under-resourced and disproportionately subjected to environmental burdens. One of the orders signed Monday directs city officials to compile a report within 45 days on industrial areas across Los Angeles that sit close to homes and schools. The report also must include possible zoning and land use changes that would reduce negative health effects from existing and future industrial facilities.
