In-person voting for the June 2 statewide primary election began Saturday at 122 vote centers in Los Angeles County and 38 in Orange County.
The Los Angeles County vote centers will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. for in-person voting, voter registration and vote-by-mail ballot returns.
Eligible voters who have not registered can visit any vote center, complete a conditional voter registration and cast a ballot. Once the registration is validated through the statewide database, the ballot will be processed like all others, officials said.
County election officials encouraged voters to review their ballots carefully and vote early, noting the ballot includes a large number of contests and candidates.
Voters can also use the interactive sample ballot at lavote.gov/home/voting-elections/voting-options/interactive-sample-ballot, an optional tool that allows them to mark selections on a smartphone or computer and transfer them to a ballot-marking device at a vote center.
For contests with many candidates, the ballot-marking device displays five candidates at a time, and voters can select the “More” button to view the full list.
A list and map of vote center locations are available at locator.lavote.gov. Information on the county’s 400-plus drop boxes is available at lavote.gov/home/voting-elections/voting-options/vote-by-mail/vbm-ballot-drop-off.
In Orange County, a hazardous materials threat in Garden Grove has resulted in some last minute changes to its plans to open 39 vote centers Saturday and expand to 191 on May 30.
With roughly 40,000 people under evacuation orders in Garden Grove and several surrounding communities, a planned vote center at the Garden Grove Sports and Recreation Center has been converted to an emergency evacuation center and will be closed to voters until further notice, the Registrar of Voters Office announced Friday.
“This city building is serving as a care and shelter facility for the community to assist those displaced by the incident,” the registrar’s office said in a statement late Friday.
Ballot Drop Boxes located within the evacuation area will also be unavailable until further notice. They are located at:
— Stanton Branch Library, 7850 Katella Ave.;
— Korean Martyrs Catholic Center, 7655 Trask Ave., Westminster;
— Chapman Sports Park, 11700 Knott Ave., Garden Grove.
The remaining 38 Orange County vote centers opened Saturday as scheduled. Evacuated voters who do not have their vote-by-mail ballot can request a replacement at any vote center.
Evacuated voters can also drop off their completed vote-by-mail ballots at the remaining 125 drop boxes.
The hours will be 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily through Election Day when the hours will be 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Orange County voters can find more information about their vote centers and any last minute changes at ocvote.gov/voting or by calling the Registrar of Voters Voter Hotline at 888-OCVOTES (888-628-6837).
The primary ballot includes races for governor, seven other statewide offices, four seats on the Board of Equalization, all of California’s 52 congressional seats, 20 of the 40 state Senate seats and all 80 seats in the Assembly.
The top two candidates in all state and federal races will advance to the November general election, regardless of party. If no candidate receives a majority in the county races, which are all nonpartisan, the top two will meet in the general election.