One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
LA County Will Mail A Ballot To All 5.4 Million Registered Voters For The November Election
L.A. County Supervisors today voted 5-0 to send a mail-in ballot to every registered voter in the county ahead of the presidential election in November.
The motion was co-authored by Supervisors Janice Hahn and Sheila Kuehl. It requires the county registrar to print and send ballots to all 5.4 million L.A. voters in time for the general election -- addressing the problem of long voting lines and the threat of coronavirus contagion.
“I don’t want people to have to make a choice between their health and their right to vote,” Hahn said, adding the cost estimate is in the neighborhood of $9 million.
The county was already considering expanding voting by mail. Frustrating wait times and snaking queues at many of the new vote centers on March 3 -- particularly downtown and on college campuses -- prompted the Supervisors to order Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan to look into the problems and study expanding absentee voting. Logan submitted his report late on Monday, as the pandemic brings an added urgency to keep voters safe.
“It looks very likely the entire state will move to this model, or a similar model,” Logan said.
GO DEEPER:
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
