Midterm election: Nearly 20% of L.A. County voters have already cast ballots in the county’s May 25 special election
Voting begins today
More than 20% of Los Angeles County’s registered voters, 10 million more than the previous record in a May 8 special election, have already voted in the election. Here’s a breakdown of the numbers:
Of the 11,873 polling places around the county from which people have been voting, more than 1,200 are open as of midday on Tuesday, including all of the county’s 10 million registered voters.
Voter turnout has been brisk throughout the election. As of Tuesday, 1,981 people had cast ballots, compared with 1,872 at the same point in the 2015 special election.
L.A. county voter turnout increased by 11.6 percentage points from the 2015 special election, when only 1,908 people voted amid a series of lawsuits and other legal controversies.
The turnout is also well above the county’s typical turnout in midterm elections, which has been about 1,800 people.
County Clerk Janice Hahn said the turnout numbers are encouraging because it’s showing that most voters are going to the polls to vote in the election.
“I think what we’re doing is we’re educating voters on the candidates,” Hahn said. “I think they’re learning more about the candidates after it’s come and gone. They’re getting to know them better, that’s the main thing.”
L.A. County Democratic Party Chairman Gil Cedillo also credited the turnout numbers. “People seem to be coming out to vote and engaging in their democratic process,” he said.
County officials expect the turnout to exceed the record turnout at the 2015 midterms, when about 4,400 people voted and there were more than 2,500 precincts reporting turnout.
A turnout of about 20% is far higher than the number of people registered to vote in the county, which in previous years has ranged from 5% to 7%.
The turnout rate, however, is still lower than the turnout rate in the 2014 election. In that year, the rate was 21.5%, according to the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters.
Voting begins
People around the county
