Your LA neighborhood is (probably) having an election soon. What to know and how to vote

They say all politics is local, and in the city of L.A., it doesn’t get more local than your neighborhood council.

And now’s the time to get involved: In some neighborhoods, Monday is the deadline to request a ballot to vote in your neighborhood council’s election.

L.A.’s 99 neighborhood councils are official megaphones to City Hall. They can’t make laws, but they can tell elected officials — namely, your city councilmember — what your community cares about and can advocate more loudly than an individual resident might be able to.

Everything a neighborhood council does has to be approved by its board in a majority vote. So if you want your neighborhood council to actually represent the issues that are important to you, it matters who those board members are. And this is where you, the voter, come in.

If you live, work, own property or have some kind of meaningful connection to a neighborhood in the city of L.A., you’re likely eligible to vote in one of these elections, which are staggered between March and June. You don’t have to be a U.S. citizen and you don’t have to be over 18, but you should know a couple of basics first.

Why these elections matter

The city of Los Angeles has 4 million residents who are represented by just 15 members of the City Council. That can make it pretty difficult for a resident to feel connected with their elected representatives or that their neighborhood issues are actually getting addressed.

Enter neighborhood councils. They’re a hyperlocal arm of city government, made up of your neighbors, that gets to weigh in on City Council legislation and spend a small amount of city funding on programs for their neighborhoods or to support local schools and nonprofits. They have a board, made up of members who get elected or appointed to two- or four-year terms, and topical committees.

Neighborhood councils often get more regular access to city councilmembers or city departments, and they usually know the right people to call when problems need to be fixed. (Here’s a much more comprehensive guide to what neighborhood councils can do.)

Neighborhood councils aren’t always the most functional groups — there’s no shortage of stories of petty infighting or personal drama between members, and plenty of people have been disillusioned by their experiences in the system.

But public participation is absolutely essential to these councils being able to do their jobs. If a neighborhood council isn’t getting anything done because its members are fighting too much, or if the same members keep shutting down disagreement and entrenching their own power, electing new members is one way to turn things in a new direction. Not a lot of people vote in these elections, so your vote really has power here.

One more thing to know: Neighborhood councils are increasingly becoming a springboard to higher office in L.A. (Former neighborhood council members who are now in elected offices include City Councilmembers Nithya Raman and Hugo Soto Martinez, along with City Controller Kenneth Mejia.) This is an early way to support or slow down a future candidate’s momentum.

Who can vote in a neighborhood council election

These aren’t like usual city elections — you can vote whether or not you’re a U.S. citizen, and in most cases the minimum age is 16. And generally, you can vote in a neighborhood council election if you live, work, own property or are involved with a community organization in that neighborhood.

Beyond that, there are some rules about voting that are specific to each neighborhood council. For instance, a neighborhood council may have specific seats that only people who live in the neighborhood can vote for, or a renter’s representative seat that only renters can vote for. And some neighborhood councils have a youth representative seat, which people as young as 14 can vote for.

When you request a ballot, you’ll have to supply an address or name of an organization you’re involved with to demonstrate your connection to the neighborhood. Some neighborhood councils may require additional verification, such as a utility bill or pay stub, to show your connection to the area.

This year’s elections are all vote-by-mail

Unlike neighborhood council elections in previous years, there's no in-person voting option available for the 2025 elections. That means you have to request a vote-by-mail ballot before the ballot request deadline, which is more than a week before your neighborhood council’s Election Day.

If you miss that deadline, there's no other option to vote.

How to vote in a neighborhood council election

1. Figure out which neighborhood council election you want to vote in. You can input your address here to find out which council represents you. It’s possible to vote in multiple neighborhood council elections, though in some cases you’ll have to verify with documentation that you have a connection to that neighborhood. 

2. Look up election dates and deadlines.  Neighborhood councils hold their elections on staggered timelines, so some will happen earlier than others. Here are the ballot request deadlines and election dates coming soon:

   Westside neighborhood councils 
   Ballot request deadline: Monday, March 10

   Election Day: Tuesday, March 18

   • Bel Air-Beverly Crest
   • Del Rey
   • Mar Vista
   • North Westwood
   • Palms
   • Venice
   • Westchester/Playa

   San Pedro, Wilmington and Harbor Gateway neighborhood councils
   Ballot request deadline: Monday, March 17

   Election Day: Tuesday, March 25

   • Central San Pedro
   • Coastal San Pedro
   • Harbor Gateway
   • Harbor Gateway North
   • Harbor Gateway South
   • Northwest San Pedro
   • Wilmington

   South L.A. neighborhood councils
   Ballot request deadline: Monday, March 24

   Election Day: Tuesday, April 1

   • CANNDU (Community And Neighbors for Ninth District Unity)
   • Central Alameda
   • Empowerment Congress Southwest
   • South Central
   • Voices 
   • Watts
   • Zapata-King

   Look up the full election timeline for the other neighborhood councils here.
   

3. Request a ballot. Neighborhood council elections are a different election system than municipal, state and federal elections, so you won’t get a vote-by-mail ballot automatically. You can request a vote-by-mail ballot online here — you’ll first have to set up an account at the City Clerk’s website, create a voter application and then submit the request. The City Clerk’s portal has an instructional video outlining the steps, but some residents have told us the process can still be confusing. Here are a few tips we heard:
   
   1. When you get to the City Clerk’s online portal, you can create an account via the Neighborhood Council Filing Portal or through an Angeleno account. If you don’t already have an Angeleno account, it may be easier to sign up directly through the Neighborhood Council Filing Portal. 
   2. When you register to vote, be sure to select “Voter” instead of “Candidate” at the top to ensure you’re registering as a voter.
   3. It tends to be easier to sign up via a desktop or laptop than on a mobile phone.
   4. If you prefer, you can also apply via a paper application and submit it directly to the L.A. City Clerk’s office. 
4. Research the candidates. Many neighborhood councils will hold candidate forums where you can ask questions or hear them talk about why they’re interested in running. If you can’t make the forums live, you may be able to find recordings or notes on the neighborhood council’s website. Otherwise, you can check out candidates’ statements that they submit to the city clerk’s office. 
5. Return your ballot. Each neighborhood council region will have specific drop box locations for their elections. You can look up drop box locations here. The boxes close at 8 p.m. on election day.

Missed your chance to vote? Here’s how you can still be involved

Perhaps you've missed the deadline, or you’ve already voted. Your participation doesn’t have to end there! Here are a few things you can do to stay involved:

• Attend meetings and give public comment. Neighborhood councils have monthly meetings open to the public. Meetings also have a public comment period, in which members of the public are allowed to give a two-minute comment on anything they like. If you feel strongly about an issue and want it to get some attention, here’s your chance. You can find meeting calendars on your neighborhood council’s website, or sign up for their newsletter to get updates. 
• Join a neighborhood council committee. Neighborhood councils often have committees that handle specific issues like transportation or public safety. They’re responsible for setting priorities on issues they want the larger board to vote on. Committees are often considered more influential and less time consuming than being on the larger board. In most cases, you can reach out to the committee chair and ask what it takes to join. 
• Join a neighborhood council board outside of an election. If you want to get even more involved, you can join a neighborhood council board. The board has the voting power to approve (or not approve) actions the neighborhood council wants to take. There are lots of cases in which seats go vacant, in which case you can bypass a general election and join with approval from the board. Stay in touch with your neighborhood council via meetings or their newsletter — if any vacancies crop up, you can reach out to be considered to fill it.

Here's more information on what you might want to know before you join a neighborhood council and the big changes that some members have said they want to see with the system.