The Brief

Many people seeking elected office in Los Angeles County are running unopposed this November compared to four years ago — about 87% more, according to data from the county Registrar of Voters.

While it’s not unusual to see races with only one candidate, it does raise questions about why it's happening: Are people losing interest? Do other responsibilities, like child care and salary needs, stop them from running? Are they dissuaded by the current political climate?

Whatever the answers, the result means voters won’t have a choice about who fills seats on a variety of government bodies, including school districts, water districts and city councils, all of which affect residents’ daily lives.

Antwone Roberts, director of democracy and equity for California Community Foundation, told LAist that civic engagement isn’t just about getting involved when an election is approaching.

“It's really understanding how being civically engaged becomes a tool for the betterment of the individual and the community at large,” he said.

Some experts say there are parts of Southern California that are known as “civic deserts,” areas that have disproportionately low participation in local elections when compared to the county at large.

Roberts noted that this disparity can make it more difficult to address severe inequities and systemic problems.

Which L.A. races are impacted

This year, there are 144 local races in which a candidate is running unopposed, according to the Registrar’s Office. In November 2020, there were 77 unopposed candidates on the ballot, including two races with no candidates at all.

This issue isn’t confined to L.A. County, said Neal Kelley, former registrar of voters for Orange County. It’s seen across Southern California.

“It's certainly a lot more common than the general public is probably aware of,” he told LAist.

The seats in which only one candidate is seeking office include:

• 95 school district races in L.A. County, including seats in Burbank, El Segundo, Palmdale, and West Covina
• 3 state water district races in Walnut Valley
• 10 county water district races
• 10 municipal water district races
• 4 water agency races in Antelope Valley-East Kern 
• 11 city-level races, including council seats in Glendora and Santa Clarita
• 8 irrigation district races
• 1 health district race for Beach Cities
• 1 library district race for Altadena
• 1 recreation and park district race for Westfield 

Local government races, rather than national ones, have a much larger impact on our everyday lives. These elected officials are who’s making decisions about housing, parks, and the kind of things that affect a neighborhood on a day-to-day basis.

A polling station worker prepares to hand out 'I Voted' stickers in Burbank, California.

(

Justin Sullivan

/

Getty Images North America

)

Why are there so many unopposed seats?

Experts say there are many reasons why people may not be running for elected office — including transportation issues, child care concerns, and work responsibilities.

Christian Grose, a political science professor at the University of Southern California, told LAist that fewer people may be interested in running for office because they don’t see local politics as a sustainable career option.

The pay can be low, and the jobs can be time-consuming and difficult. For example, Downey City Council members made nearly $12,000 last year, and Burbank City Council members earn around $19,000 in regular pay, according to the State Controller’s Office.

A candidate who comes from a lower-income community, for example, may not be able to afford to take on the expense of running for office or the ability to take a job that pays less than others.

The political climate can also have an effect, especially as personal attacks and public feuds seem to become increasingly common.

“It's always a conflict,” Kelley said. “But at the end of the day, that's what politics is, right? It's consensus and sometimes it is conflict. So I think it does impact it for sure.”

Almaluz Miranda, left, talks to Julia Brito, right, at the Boyle Heights Senior Center.

(

Allen J. Schaben

/

Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

)

Grose added that many local newsrooms have shuttered, and more news outlets are focusing on directing their stories to a national audience. That drop in coverage and attention to issues closer to home can affect interest, and awareness, in local governance.

H. Eric Schockman, a professor emeritus at Woodbury University in Burbank, agrees.

He told LAist that the media, often referred to as the fourth branch of government, has been “swatted away” — meaning its access and impact for some audiences has weakened — which affects democracy. Younger audiences may be used to getting information for free, and everyone has fewer places to go to for the information they need to stay informed.

“And that is such a scandal,” he said. “We all know it, but we don't admit it because everybody wants news cheap.”

What about ‘civic deserts’

Roberts said the California Community Foundation has identified “civic deserts” in Southern California, areas that have disproportionately low participation when compared to the county at large.

They include South, East, and Southeast L.A., as well as the San Fernando, San Gabriel, and Antelope valleys.

Broadly speaking, Roberts said, participation has been statistically lower among historically underrepresented communities, including Black, Latino, Indigenous, and Asian American and Pacific Islander populations.

Research has shown that people are more likely to engage if they have a direct call to action from someone they trust, whether that’s a local elected official or community-based organization.

A flag is taped to the door as voters cast their ballots at the Boyle Heights Senior Center.

(

Allen J. Schaben

/

Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

)

“When elected officials represent the diversity of their constituents, they're more likely and better positioned to really champion equitable policies that address those systemic inequities,” he said.

Civic engagement is the backbone of a healthy democracy, and Roberts noted that more people participating strengthens representation, increases diversity, and fosters a more inclusive political process.

How to get involved

If you’re curious about running for office, experts say start off by seeing who is in the seat, study the issues, do some research, and meet voters.

Going to the city council or district meetings, engaging in public comment, and talking to your elected officials are also important stepping stones. You can see if there’s a need that's not being met in the community in which you could make a difference.

A lot of people who end up running for local office get started because they’re unhappy with something, or their elected official isn’t responsive to their concerns, Grose said.

But you have to be engaged to figure out what matters.

Roberts recommends looking at civic engagement as a spectrum, not just voting or running for office. That can include going to community events, connecting with service organizations, or participating in other opportunities, like the census, as a jumping off point.

Find what lights a fire in your belly, and follow your passions. Realize that you can have a bigger role to play, and identify what you can offer the people around you, not just those who support you.

LAist also has the voter guides you need to make your most-informed vote ever, and you can access all of them here.

Los Angeles County quietly stopped handing out syringes and pipes at the county’s flagship services hub in Skid Row in August, and has now terminated the contract of the nonprofit that ran harm reduction programs there, the Department of Health Services told LAist.

The pause — which county officials said is temporary — began in August, “in part due to concerns that community stakeholders and local businesses raised to County leadership,” according to a statement provided to LAist by Thomas Lynch, a spokesperson for the county’s Department of Health Services.

The changes come amid a growing cluster of HIV cases in Skid Row and mounting pressure from the Trump administration and neighboring businesses on L.A. programs that distribute drug paraphernalia. Critics argue the programs enable drug addiction and contribute to crime in the area.

The goal of these programs is to keep people who use drugs alive and free of infections like HIV and hepatitis, while working to connect them with services including treatment.

In late August, the county Department of Public Health identified a cluster of HIV cases among people who live in and around Skid Row. As of Sunday, 15 people had been linked to it, 11 of them women, according to Becky Schlikerman, a spokesperson for that department.

In a statement, Schlikerman said both substance use and sexual transmission are being investigated as possible factors, and that the department is working with street medicine teams and harm reduction groups to expand HIV testing and prevention in the area.

“There is an active HIV outbreak in Skid Row, so reducing safe injection supplies to people who use drugs in this moment seems particularly dangerous,” said Ricky Bluthenthal, distinguished professor of population and public health sciences at USC’s Keck School of Medicine.

The Skid Row Care Campus still distributes naloxone — the opioid overdose reversal drug — wound care supplies and safe sex supplies, Lynch said, but “distribution of syringes and pipes is currently on pause.”

He also said they have not set a date for syringe services to resume, that the pause applies only at the campus, and that staff are referring people to syringe programs elsewhere.

The state lists 24 authorized syringe services programs in L.A. County, according to the California Department of Public Health. Two are based in or next to Skid Row.

Harm reduction services are provided across much of L.A. County, according to the L.A. County Department of Public Health.

Darren Willett, director of the Center for Harm Reduction in Skid Row, in September of 2021.

(

Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

/

via Getty Images

)

Provider layoffs 

The county has also terminated its contract with Homeless Health Care Los Angeles effective Tuesday, county officials said. The county announced the change in an Aug. 28 statement, the same month the syringe and pipe pause began.

Homeless Health Care Los Angeles, one of L.A.’s best-known harm reduction providers, notified the state in September that it would permanently lay off 134 workers — including 117 employees at the Skid Row Care Campus — effective Tuesday, Nov. 3, according to state Employment Development Department records.

“Right now, HHCLA is being forced to say goodbye to some deeply valued staff and reduce services that some of LA’s most marginalized rely on every day,” the nonprofit wrote in an Instagram post in late September.

In the same post, Homeless Health Care Los Angeles said its jobs program for people in Skid Row “no longer exists.” The nonprofit said the program offered “real income, real pathways forward for people too often shut out of opportunity.”

The county is bringing in nonprofits St. Joseph Center and LA Community Health Project instead, officials said. Meanwhile, Social Model Recovery Systems will expand its existing services and Wesley Health Centers will continue providing healthcare on site.

In statements provided to LAist, L.A. County's health services and homelessness departments described the shake-up as “contractor changes” made as part of an effort to “strengthen operations.” Officials are updating campus protocols, “strengthening on-site safety” and expanding substance use treatment and healthcare, according to those statements.

County officials said they are committed to a transition that avoids disruption for people using the campus.

“Providers are hiring from within the Skid Row community and have worked hard to retain staff who were working for Homeless Health Care Los Angeles,” Lynch told LAist.

Those providers have hired more than 80 people so far, and nearly 90% previously worked for Homeless Health Care Los Angeles, according to the department.

Representatives for Homeless Health Care Los Angeles did not respond to repeated requests for interview or comment.

The nonprofit has worked in Skid Row since the 1980s and ran the campus’s harm reduction and overdose response programs. It celebrated its 40th anniversary this year.

A group of Skid Row community members and laid-off campus workers calling itself the Skid Row Coalition for Community Safety has launched a campaign saying L.A. County is “playing politics with people’s lives.”

“Supervisor Hilda Solis and LA County chose to cowardly abandon the recommendations of public health experts and the Skid Row community,” the group said in a statement on its website.

County Supervisor Hilda Solis, who represents the area and authored the 2022 motion that created the Skid Row Action Plan, told LAist in a statement that the decision to end Homeless Health Care Los Angeles’ contract was made jointly by the county’s health services and homelessness departments.

“Some services have been paused to allow the incoming provider to onboard staff and establish operations,” Solis said. “This is a necessary part of coordinating the transition.”

“I am proud of the Skid Row Action Plan and its commitment to expanding low-barrier services, health care, and pathways to housing,” Solis’ statement continued. “That commitment remains unchanged.”

Solis completes her final term next month and is on Tuesday’s ballot running for California’s 38th Congressional District, which covers parts of eastern Los Angeles and Orange counties but not Skid Row.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis. Solis represents Skid Row and authored a 2022 motion that created the Skid Row Action Plan.

(

Samanta Helou Hernandez

/

LAist

)

Criticism of the campus 

The Skid Row Care Campus opened in spring 2025. County officials call it the first community-designed homeless services hub in the nation.

The campus logs more than 2,700 visits a day, a count that includes repeat visitors, according to the county. It costs about $26 million a year to operate. Funding is secured through June 2027. The budget for the following fiscal year has not been finalized.

The campus in the heart of Skid Row drew scrutiny this year. In May, Fox 11 aired a segment featuring Estela Lopez, executive director of the Downtown Industrial Business Improvement District, who called the campus a “meth mansion.” L.A. Mayor Karen Bass told the TV station she was concerned about problems at the campus.

LAPD responded 693 times to the two blocks around it between January and late May, and recorded four homicides there in the first four months of 2026, according to LAPD figures first reported by Fox 11.

On Oct. 8, federal agents and LAPD officers carried out a drug sweep dubbed “Operation Save Skid Row,” centered about a block from the campus. Federal prosecutors charged 28 people and arrested 23, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

In July 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing agencies to stop funding “so-called ‘harm reduction’” efforts. In April, federal health officials barred grantees from using federal money for pipes and drug test strips, on top of a longstanding ban on federal funds for syringes.

L.A. County officials have not said whether federal policy played a role in the pause. The campus is funded through opioid settlement money, Medi-Cal managed care plans, the state and the county — not federal grants, according to officials.

County officials and employees have credited harm reduction programs with helping drive down overdose deaths, which fell 6% in 2025 — the third straight annual decline — according to the county Department of Public Health.

A person walks past an encampment of unhoused people in the Skid Row community. Skid Row is home to thousands of people who are either experiencing homelessness on the streets or living in shelters.

(

Mario Tama/Getty Images

/

Getty Images North America

)

Harm reduction’s track record

Harm reduction programs including needle and syringe exchanges started in L.A. more than three decades ago in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. L.A. County declared a local public health emergency in 2000 to authorize syringe exchange under a new state law, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation report.

People who use fentanyl in L.A. have increasingly shifted from injecting it to smoking it, according to a 2025 study co-authored by Bluthenthal, with USC’s Keck School of Medicine.

Bluthenthal called the recent syringe and pipe distribution pause at the Skid Row Care Campus “obviously a setback.”

“Harm reduction programs, through providing social and material support, have been one of the most consistent pathways to treatment for people who are currently using illicitly purchased drugs,” he said.

In a statement on the pause, officials at L.A. County’s Department of Health Services said people who receive syringe services are three times more likely to reduce or stop using drugs and five times more likely to enter substance use treatment.

John Raphling, an organizer with the Los Angeles Community Action Network based in Skid Row, said his group is “extremely concerned that the county is cutting these services” and that Skid Row residents “were not at all consulted.”

“Harm reduction services, like those provided by Homeless Health Care, help save lives, prevent the spread of disease, and allow people to survive and work through their recovery,” Raphling said.

Some Skid Row residents see it differently — including Don Garza, who has lived in the neighborhood for 27 years and resides in a single-room-occupancy building there.

“It’s not helping anyone,” Garza told LAist. “It exponentially accelerates the overdose deaths.”

“The part of harm reduction that we still need is the overdose prevention, but without the pipes and the needles,” Garza said. “We still need the Narcan because Skid Row is not going anywhere, and people are still gonna OD, and they're gonna die.”

The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a last-minute request from the Department of Justice to wade into its unprecedented feud with California over the state's voter rolls.

The court denied taking up the Justice Department's appeal on Monday evening, just hours after it was filed. Election Day is Tuesday.

The appeal was the department's latest foray into state election administration, which a federal judge referred to last week as "a broad, ongoing pattern of attempted election interference by federal officials."

After that judge, David Carter, a Clinton appointee, and a divided 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel rejected the DOJ's request to order California to set aside and stop processing the ballots of thousands of people, the DOJ sought injunctive relief from the high court.

The DOJ says it has identified 20,000 "likely" noncitizens on California's voter roll whose ballots should not be counted until their citizenship can be verified.

Courts so far have sided with California and Los Angeles County's arguments that the federal government's list is unreliable, and that creating a novel system to segregate ballots while voting is already underway is infeasible.

"[T]here is a material risk that granting the United States its requested relief would result in disenfranchisement and could jeopardize the County's entire election," 9th Circuit Judges Mark Bennett, a Trump appointee, and Gabriel Sanchez, a Biden appointee, wrote in their Friday decision rejecting the Justice Department's emergency request.

The two judges cited longstanding legal precedent, known as the Purcell principle, that election rules should not be altered on the eve of an election, as well as the fact that the Constitution gives states authority to run elections. The opinion also cited the National Voter Registration Act, which bars states from systematically removing ineligible voters within 90 days of a federal election.

The panel's third judge, Patrick Bumatay, also a Trump appointee, dissented.

The actual number of ballots in dispute is likely much smaller than 20,000, since county election officials have found that many of the people on DOJ's list did not have active voter registrations and were not mailed ballots.

Over the weekend, data scientists at University of California Los Angeles' Voting Rights Project were granted access to the DOJ's list through a court order in another lawsuit and found that 42% of the names on the list do not appear on California's current voter roll. That analysis also found naturalized citizens on the DOJ's list.

The Supreme Court's refusal to intervene comes as the Justice Department has been escalating its feud with California election officials.

In recent weeks, the Department of Justice has sent subpoenas to election officials in California, and reminded officials that they could be criminally prosecuted for allowing ineligible voters to cast ballots.

A federal judge in San Francisco issued a temporary restraining order late Friday barring the Trump administration from threatening, intimidating or coercing election officials to demand they stop processing the ballots of registered voters that the federal government alleges are ineligible to vote. The federal government has appealed the order.
Copyright 2026 NPR

If Rep. Mike Levin’s proposal moves forward, the spent nuclear fuel stashed on the beach at San Onofre will be stored and processed at one of several potential campuses in other states.

Levin, a Democratic congress member representing parts of San Diego and Orange County, discussed his plan from a point above the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station last week.

“Since I've been in Congress, getting this spent nuclear fuel off our coast has been one of my top priorities,” Levin said, overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the steel and concrete canisters housing nuclear fuel rods. “I have been in this fight for eight years, fighting the status quo of inaction on spent nuclear fuel.”

He’s pushing to create facilities called Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses in communities that want to recycle some of the spent fuel and store remaining waste, in exchange for economic development opportunities.

The Department of Energy said the campuses could “attract significant investment, expand domestic manufacturing, and create thousands of new high-paying jobs in their respective regions.” Utah, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Idaho have stepped up as potential hosts for the facilities.

Finland and Canada have embarked on similar efforts to locate nuclear waste facilities, with the consent and collaboration of local communities, according to a report by Levin’s office. Finland expects to permanently dispose of nuclear waste as soon as next year.

Levin said similar U.S. sites could begin operation by the late 2030s, and he’s pushing to make the San Onofre plant a priority for nuclear waste removal and storage.

San Onofre ceased operating in 2013, after a newly installed steam generator failed, leaving the plant inoperable. Officials began decommissioning the plant in 2020.

Since then, 700 million tons of building material have been hauled away from the site, and the spent fuel rods were moved from cooling pools to dry storage on the beach, Levin said.

But there isn’t a permanent repository for the spent nuclear fuel, following backlash to an earlier proposal to store the waste.

“The federal government still hasn't done what it pledged to do all the way back in 1998, and so communities like ours have been left holding the fuel,” Levin said.

The federal government previously designated the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository in Nevada as the permanent storage site for nuclear waste. But former president Barack Obama cancelled that plan in 2010, following fierce opposition from environmentalists, local groups and tribes.

Without a permanent storage repository, spent nuclear fuel has remained on site at San Onofre, where its location on the coast, near earthquake faults and next to Camp Pendleton make the waste vulnerable to natural disaster or national security threats.

To address those risks, Levin introduced the Spent Fuel Prioritization Act with co-authors including Rep. Darrell Issa, a San Diego Republican, and Rep.Young Kim, an Orange County Republican. It would move nuclear sites with high seismic hazards, large populations and national security risk, such as San Onofre, up the list for fuel removal and storage. The bill is waiting for consideration in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, according to Levin’s 2026 report on San Onofre.

Another challenge concerns transport of spent nuclear fuel. Levin said next year a specially designed train called the Atlas Railcar System will complete testing and move the first spent fuel rods from Virginia to Idaho. The Atlas is a 12-axle railcar equipped with sensors and monitoring systems, which can transport nearly half a million pounds of spent nuclear fuel, according to the Department of Energy. It took ten years and cost $33 million dollars to build.

Levin has also introduced bills to create a nuclear waste administration, to require nuclear waste canisters to last 100 years instead of the current 40 years, and to increase public engagement and improve safety inspection at decommissioning power plants.

“I will not declare victory on this until the last canister has left San Onofre,” he said.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Election officials in both Los Angeles and Orange counties report the early vote is trending higher than the last midterm election in 2022 — on trend with expectations across the U.S.

Nationally, Democrats have outpaced Republicans returning early ballots by more than 10 points, according to tracking by the University of Florida Election Lab.

Here's what you should know about the local vote totals currently released:

• In Los Angeles County, about 24% of registered voters had cast ballot as of Monday.
• In Orange County, the current tally represents about 35% of registered voters.

Keep in mind that Nov. 10 will be the final day for votes postmarked by Nov. 3 to arrive at county elections offices, so the total number of votes cast won't be known until then.

How vote counts will be released

I thought it was election night?

That hasn't been true in quite some time. It takes a while to get results because after the initial tallies on election night, there are still many, many votes to count, and more mail-in ballots are usually arriving.

Here’s what we know so far.

L.A. County turnout

Los Angeles County has more than 5.9 million registered voters. As of Monday, Nov. 2:

• More than 1.42 million ballots have been processed.
• 90% voted by mail.
• 10% voted in person.

What's next:

• We'll know more on election night — and in the following days — about how many ballots remain to be counted.
• Has your ballot been tallied yet? You can track the status of your ballot here.

Observe live counting

Orange County turnout

Orange County has more than 1.9 million registered voters. As of Monday evening, Nov. 2:

• 667,758 ballots have been processed.
• 89.4% voted by mail.
• 10.4% voted in person.

How turnout is trending

Early voting in Orange County is surpassing the last midterm election so far.

(

Orange County Registrar

)

What's next:

• We'll know more on election night — and in the following days — about how many ballots remain to be counted.
• Has your ballot been tallied yet? You can track the status of your ballot here.

Expected total turnout

Political Data Inc. is tracking ballot returns across California and in some high-profile races.

As of Monday, Nov. 2, statewide turnout is 25%. Note: That is already higher than this time in the primary. Democrats outnumber Republicans statewide by almost double, and have returned more ballots so far (3 million compared to 1.6 million — representing 29% and 28% of each party's registered voters.

See the latest totals ▶

Why Election Day has turned into ballot-counting month

Because of the increasing use of vote-by-mail ballots, the tally has gotten longer, according to the California Voter Foundation. In an analysis, the organization found:

• In November 2004, more than 80% of votes were counted within two days of Election Day, with 32.6% voting by mail. 
• In June 2022, about 50% of ballots were counted within two days of Election Day, with more than 90% of people voting by mail. 
• In November 2024, 66% of votes were counted within the first two days of Election Day, with 81% of the vote by mail.
• In June 2026, 61% of votes were counted within the first two days of Election Day, with 89% of the vote by mail.

A closer look at ballot counting times in California, where an increasing number of vote-by-mail ballots has slowed ballot counts.

(

Courtesy California Voter Foundation

)

Election officials must physically open mail-in ballots and verify signatures.

Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Foundation, recently wrote about the ripple effect of turning in mail-in ballots by hand or in drop boxes on Election Day. She wrote, for our partner newsroom CalMatters:

"We turn in ballots in envelopes on Election Day that take time and care to process and cannot be processed until after Election Day. Processing these ballots — which account for as much as a quarter of all ballots cast — creates a bottleneck I like to call 'the pig in the python effect.' It prevents counties from doing other tasks they need to do to certify the results."

That said, counting has been speeding up considerably. According to Alexander's organization, the overall share of ballots counted within seven days of the election jumped from 72% in 2022 to 93% in the June primary. L.A. County is moving to around-the-clock counting this cycle, in a move election officials say will help increase voter confidence in the results.