About the vote count
As you watch these results, keep in mind:
- As of Friday, Nov. 15, L.A. election officials said more than 3.73 million ballots had been returned so far.
- An estimated 79,400 remained to be counted.
- There are more than 5.7 million registered voters in L.A. County
- 2.1 million of those registered votes live in the City of L.A.
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 L.A. County, additional results, which includes mail-in votes received on or after Election Day as well as provisional ballots, will be released following this schedule:
Mon, Nov. 18 | Tues, Nov. 19 | Fri, Nov. 22 | Tues, Nov. 26
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. County election officials must certify the results by Dec. 5, and the California Secretary of State's Office must certify the statewide vote by Dec. 13.
What’s at stake in this race
Superior Court judges oversee trials across all of L.A. County. These trials include family law (such as child custody and divorces), contract disputes, thefts, felony murder, probate (distributing a person’s possessions after they die) and small claims.
Why this race mattered
Judges can wield significant power. While some laws are very clear on a given issue, others allow a judge a fair amount of discretion in terms of interpreting the law and handing down penalties such as prison time or a fine. So who’s making those decisions becomes very important.
There are more than 400 judges in the court system. While they serve six-year terms, they don’t always have to face reelection when that time is up. They only appear on your ballot if someone challenges their seat at the end of their term.
Judges who go unchallenged automatically get reelected into their next term and never appear on the ballot at all.
Evaluating judicial candidates is notoriously hard. There can be dozens of them in a given election, and since many candidates are wary of politicizing judgeships, they don’t spend a lot of money on campaign advertising. Plus, these are nonpartisan seats, so you don’t have the option of just voting for candidates who identify as a member of the party with whom you’re registered.
Some ways to get a better sense of a candidate include looking at the L.A. County Bar Association's ratings, checking out endorsements and considering a candidate's experience.
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Scott Schmerelson was unanimously elected Tuesday to lead the LAUSD board after defeating a well-funded challenger in November’s election. -
Nguyen was able to take office weeks early to fill the vacancy caused Do’s resignation. -
Nathan Hochman succeeds George Gascón, known as the godfather of progressive prosecutors.
Go deeper on the issues
- How courts work (Judicial Council of California): Helpful background on the state court system.
- Let a judge help you judge the L.A. Superior Court candidates (LAist): Listen to our full 2018 interview with Judge Stuart Rice.
- When (and why) we vote for judges (KCET): A primer on why we’re even doing all of this.
- Why do so few public defenders become judges? (NPR): An exploration into the possible biases against public defenders as capable judges.
- Metropolitan News-Enterprise: A daily L.A. newspaper focused on local legal news and the play-by-play of judicial politics.
