Early voter turnout low in LA county heading into last weekend before primary election
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- As we get closer to election day, Los Angeles County is opening up 15 mobile voting centers at AltaMed Medical offices to make it easier to cast ballots.
"We strongly believe that it is our mission and our responsibility to civically engage and educate our communities," said Berenice Núñez Constant from AltaMed.
Election officials say it's all about reaching out to voters who otherwise might not be able to cast their ballots at all.
"There are some people in the community that, for accessibility reasons, language access, we're just not going to reach them unless we come out into the community where they're at," L.A. County Registrar Dean Logan said.
There are about 5.6 million registered voters in L.A. County. Logan said as we enter the last weekend before election day, the number of ballots returned so far is a bit low.
"[Wednesday,] we were at about 400,000 or so return vote by mail ballots and another 7,000 or 8,000 who had voted in person, so not great numbers, but steady every day, so we're hoping to see an influx as we head toward Tuesday," Logan said.
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Mindy Romero from the USC Price School of Public Policy is studying the numbers and analyzing voter turnout for the 2022 elections.
"I think a lot of voters, or potential voters, don't see the primary as something that is relevant," Romero said.
She said with the pandemic, no one is sure what turnout could be.
"Now that we're kind of opening up in society and people are feeling more comfortable, we're expecting that there may be a shift back to some degree of in-person voting," Romero said. "Of course, voting centers are open now, you can vote in person now, but a lot of people still think of election day."
The mobile voting centers will be open through Monday, June 6. People can also bring their completed vote by mail ballots and drop them off.
To find a polling place near you, click here. For everything you need to know about Tuesday's primary election - including online candidate statements and other election resources - click here.
