Where are the voters?
Long lines and heavy voter turnout were expected in Los Angeles County Tuesday as the bitter battle between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump finally came to a close.
But while there were some long lines through the day, voters weren’t flocking to the polls in the numbers that turned out when President Obama was on the ballot in 2008 and 2012.
About 30.60 percent of the 5.19 million registered voters in Los Angeles County had cast ballots as of 2 p.m. Tuesday, the latest available figures, according to the county Registrar-Recorder’s Office.
By comparison, 48.55 percent of those eligible to vote in the county had done so as of 2 p.m. in the 2008 presidential election, with 37.34 percent voting as of 2 p.m. in 2012, according to the registrar’s office.
In the 2012 presidential election, 70.46 percent of the county’s 4,593,621 registered voters cast ballots, according to the office, down from the 81.92 percent of registered voters who weighed in during the 2008 election, which resulted in Barack Obama becoming the nation’s first African American president.
Lines have been long at some polling stations, partly due to the length of time needed to fill out a ballot. There are 35 contests listed on ballots in some precincts.
An average time of between 10 minutes and 11 minutes was expected to complete such ballots, resulting in longer-than-usual lines, the registrar’s office warned earlier.
An office spokeswoman said no major problems have been reported as of 11 a.m.
“We’ve had some minor problems, which is very typical,” she said. “We have trouble-shooters in the field assigned to (various) polling stations.”
Voters at one polling station in Van Nuys arrived to find no voting machines in place, KNX Radio reported. When that problem was corrected, another problem developed — a malfunctioning machine that collects the ballots. A technician fixed that problem, according to the station.
The county’s 4,523 polls opened at 7 a.m. and will close at 8 p.m.
—City News Service