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Local elections may be coming your way on Nov. 3
FILE: On Nov. 3, Los Angeles County voters will decide on ballot measures and choose the winners in a host of other elections.
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Local elections may be coming your way on Nov. 3
With the presidential campaign dominating the news, it can be easy to overlook that we’ve got elections on Nov. 3 throughout Southern California.
In less than two weeks, voters will decide on an array of ballot measures as well as mayorships, council seats, school board members, and other elections.
In Los Angeles County, there are 10 ballot measures that will go before voters.
Among them are proposals that include increasing the hotel bed tax in Hermosa Beach and paying for a new, much larger police station in Claremont. Also, hundreds of millions of dollars in bond money for schools in Compton Unified and Walnut Valley Unified hang in the balance.
In Compton, district officials are seeking to issue $350 million in bonds for facilities like libraries, performing arts centers and classrooms. Meanwhile, school leaders in Walnut Valley, which includes Diamond Bar schools, are looking to fund similar projects with $208 million in bonds.
Dan Schnur, who directs the University of Southern California's Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics, said voters are not alone if they haven’t heard about these ballot measures. But news on the elections and campaign outreach could soon ramp up.
"In the last couple weeks, Angelenos are probably going to hear somewhat more, but they’re disproportionally going to hear messages from people who want to pass those measures as opposed to from the opposition," he said.
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Schnur said most voters don't know that elections take place in odd-numbered years.
"Because this election is likely to have such a low turnout, the challenges for a local tax measure, whether it's for education or public safety or for any other issue, has a decidedly uphill fight ahead of it," he said.
Schnur encouraged people to pay attention to proposals seeking taxpayer funds. He said officials often know that many voters won’t take the time to calculate how much money is really needed, so the bureaucrats tend to ask for much more.
There are candidates on the stump as well. For more information on whether your county is holding elections and who or what will be on the ballot, check online. From there you can also click through to find voter information.
For a list of 2015 L.A. County elections, see below. Scroll down to view the Nov. 3 contests.
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