Voting in Northeast Los Angeles: What you need to know now

By T.A. Hendrickson

We’re in the home stretch of the 2022 statewide primaries. Voting by mail began on May 10. The last day to register online to vote is Monday, May 23; after that you have to register and vote in person. Voting in person begins on Saturday, May 28. The final day to send in your ballot or vote in person is Election Day, June 7.  

Casting your ballot

Questions you may have about voting are covered in detail by the L.A. Country Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk at lavote.gov. In a nutshell:

All eligible citizens who are registered by May 23 should receive a ballot in the mail. To check on whether your ballot has been mailed out, visit Vote-by-Mail Ballot Status. If your ballot is not on the way, contact the L.A. County Registrar. The deadline for requesting a Vote-by-Mail ballot is Tuesday, May 31.

There are three ways to submit your mail-in ballot.

• You can mail in your Vote-by-Mail ballot; no postage is needed but it must be postmarked by Tuesday, June 7 and received by Tuesday, June 14.
• You can drop off your ballot at drop boxes located throughout L.A. County. In Northeast L.A., drop boxes are located at Arroyo Seco Regional Library, Cypress Park Branch Library, Eagle Rock Branch Library, Eagle Rock Recreation Center, Garvanza Park, Glassell Park Recreation Center, Hermon Park and Juntos Park.
• You can drop your ballot off at vote centers throughout L.A. County. Vote centers are open May 28 to June 6 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Election Day, June 7, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Additional vote centers open June 4 through June 6 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Election Day, June 7, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

In Northeast Los Angeles, vote centers opening on May 28 include Highland Park Senior Citizen Center, Glassell Park Senior Citizen Center, El Sereno Senior Citizen Center and Lincoln Park Senior Citizen Center.

Additional vote centers opening June 4 in Northeast Los Angeles include Franklin High School, Goodwill Community Enrichment Center, the Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness, Highland Park Lutheran Church, Montecito Heights Recreation Center, Occidental College, Ramona Hall Community Center, Sotomayor Arts and Sciences Magnet.

Decision time

The primaries include races for federal, state, county and city offices. Here are some of the NELA elected officials and their challengers on the primary ballot:

• City Councilmember Kevin de León (CD-14), who is running for Mayor of Los Angeles, is currently polling in third place behind U.S. Congresswoman Karen Bass and real estate developer Rick Caruso. If no one candidate wins more than 50% of the vote in the primary, the top two winners advance to the runoff in November. The L.A. Times recently quoted a fundraising appeal from De León’s campaign in which it’s clear he is angling for a runoff against Bass. “Whether you support Karen Bass or Kevin de León, there is only one way to prevent Rick from buying the mayor’s office — send Kevin to the runoff in his place,” wrote De León senior advisor Courtni Pugh.
• In NELA’s CD 1, incumbent City Councilmember Gil Cedillo is being challenged by community activist Eunisses Hernandez.
• For State Assembly in NELA’s 52^nd district, the main challenger to incumbent Wendy Carrillo is activist Maria Livas Porter.
• For State Senate in NELA’s 26th district, incumbent Maria Elena Durazo is running unopposed.
• For L.A. County Board of Supervisors in NELA’s 1^st District, incumbent Hilda Solis has four challengers. Ballotpedia sizes up the race here. The L.A. Daily News looks at the candidates here.
• For U.S. Congress in NELA’s 34^th district, the main challenger to incumbent Jimmy Gomez is activist and lawyer David Kim. This is the second match up between Gomez and Kim. In 2020, Gomez finished with 53% of the vote to Kim’s 47%. In the congressional primary, the top two finishers advance to the general election even if one of them wins more than 50% in first round.