Morning Brief: Your Voter Guide, A Mental Health Crisis, And Old Chinatown

This newsletter was written prior to the weekend’s news. For breaking and current news, please visit laist.com.

Good morning, L.A. It’s August 30.

By now, you should have received a ballot to vote in the gubernatorial recall election asking Californians to decide whether to keep Gavin Newsom in office, or replace him with a new governor.

According to recent polling, the frontrunners to replace Newsom are all Republicans. They include talk show host Larry Elder, former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, businessman John Cox, and Assemblymember Kevin Kiley.
(Former congressman Doug Ose has since dropped out of the race for health reasons.)

The election is scheduled for Sept. 14, but you can return your mail-in ballot anytime.

To answer your election-related questions, my colleague Libby Denkmann put together this handy voter guide. Here are some highlights:

• You’ll only be asked two questions on the ballot. The first is: “Shall GAVIN NEWSOM be recalled (removed) from the office of Governor?” The second is a list of 46 candidates who are vying to replace him, of which you can select one.
• If more than 50% of voters say “no” to the first question, Newsom will stay in office. If more than 50% say “yes,” the candidate with the most votes from the list of 46 will be seated in his place.
• If you vote “no” on the first question, you can still pick a replacement candidate. Your “no” won’t be invalidated.
• If you prefer to vote in person, you can do so starting Sept. 4 and for the following 11 days at various polling places throughout the county.
• You can send in your ballot via regular mail (no postage required), or drop it at a ballot drop box.

Last Friday, a judge threw out a lawsuit that claimed the recall election is unconstitutional. The judge also refused to allow Newsom’s name to be added to the list of candidates in the second question.

Read Libby’s full guide here.

Keep reading for more on what’s happening in L.A., and stay safe out there.

What Else You Need To Know Today

• Tenants of a Chinatown building say the building owner is trying to force them out.
• A proposed bill aims to make transfers from community colleges to University of California or Cal State schools easier, but it faces fierce resistance.
• Quarantines and teacher shortages are threatening to overwhelm school districts struggling with how to educate kids who can’t go into classrooms.
• The mental health crisis caused by the pandemic is not over, especially for young people.
• L.A. County’s Department of Animal Care and Control is looking for volunteers to run dog play groups or to help out with animal shelter medicine.
• A growing wave of graphic novels draws inspiration from family histories and turns folklore into a superpower.

Before You Go ... LA's Chinatown Has A Storied History

A quiet night in Chinatown

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LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr

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The city’s original Chinatown sprang up in the mid-1800s, near Olvera Street. People born in China began immigrating to the region as their native country faced land shortages, famine and poverty during a population boom. Despite racism and discrimination, Chinatown flourished and moved eastward, to where it is today.