With only seven days to go before Election Day, according to California’s Secretary of State, as of Monday, February 26th, at least 5.7 million Vote By Mail ballots have reached voters’ mailboxes in Los Angeles County. Out of this bunch, some 311,853 ballots, or 5% of all ballots mailed, have been returned. For the 95% of the rest of you, then, here are just a handful of brief reminders from the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office.
On Your Ballot
- You do not have to vote in every race.
- Vote-by-mail ballots can be returned by mail, at a drop-off location, or your county elections office.
- Vote centers open for early in-person voting in all Voter’s Choice Act counties (which applies to L.A. County) beginning on February 24, 2024.
- Vote-by-mail ballots must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by March 12, 2024.
Write-In Candidates
- A voter is entitled to cast a vote for a qualified write-in candidate for any party-nominated, voter-nominated, or nonpartisan office by writing, on the write-in portion of the ballot, the name of the qualified candidate.
- To add a candidate, fill in the circle to the left of “Write-In Candidate” and write the name on the dotted line.
- A list of qualified write-in candidates is available eleven days before the election here.
Additional Note On Last Minute Voting
- Here’s an example to consider. If you’re registered with California’s Democratic Party, but between now and Election Day on March 5th, you have a change of heart regarding your choice for the Presidency and actually want to vote for say, Claudia De La Cruz, of the Peace and Freedom Party. Can you can write her name on the dotted line below the “Write-In Candidate” bubble on your Vote by Mail ballot and have that counted as an official vote for De La Cruz? NO, YOU CANNOT. However, you can still manage to vote for De La Cruz under Conditional Voter Registration (CVR).
- Find De La Cruz’s name and other Qualified Candidates whose names will appear on L.A. County ballots, including for the presidential race and more here.
Conditional Voter Registration
From the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s Office:
- Any eligible voter can go to any Vote Center in the County during the 11-day voting period.
- Once at the Vote Center, the eligible voter [can] complete the CVR application.
- The voter is then issued a CVR ballot to take to the new fully accessible Ballot Marking Device (like a voting iPad).
- The voter’s experience reading and marking their ballot will be the same, however after the voter prints their paper ballot they will be instructed to return their paper ballot to an Election Worker.
- As soon as the CVR application is verified, their ballot will be counted and the registration will become active.
- The voter may then vote in any future election in which they are eligible to participate.
Tracking Your Vote
- After submitting your vote, you can sign up to know the status of your ballot on the California Secretary of State’s part here.
For other questions, comments, or concerns, you can reach out to your local Vote Center, which should have more specific details on any of these particulars.
Otherwise, happy voting, Los Angeles!
J.T.