LOS ANGELES, Calif.–About 352,500 fewer voters cast ballots by 1 p.m. today compared to the same time on Election Day 2008.
Voter turnout in Los Angeles County was about 32 percent as of 1 p.m. today, behind the 43 percent turnout at the same time on Election Day 2008, according to the Registrar’s Office.
About 8.7 percent more Los Angeles County voters were registered to vote in this year’s election than in 2008–4,674,338 this year compared to 4,298,440 in 2008.
In Hancock Park, some residents complained about not being notified about a polling place being moved, from a spot near Third Street and Wilton Place to the Wilshire United Methodist Church a few blocks away at 4350 Wilshire Blvd.
A spokeswoman for the Registrar’s Office said election workers notified voters in that precinct by postcard and “robo calls.”
As of Monday, about 46 percent of the 1.5 million county-issued vote-by-mail ballots had been returned, according to the Regisrar’s Office.
Voter turnout today in Orange County was running about half the rate in 2008, Orange County Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley said.
As of 1 p.m., the turnout was 15.63 percent, which lags behind the 27 percent turnout in the 2008 presidential election, Kelley said.
More than 100,000 voters cast ballots today, Kelley said, adding Orange County’s pace was running about the same as elsewhere in the state.
“That’s kind of typical statewide,” Kelley said of the 50 to 60 percent rate throughout California, compared with 2008.
Vote by mail participation, however, was higher than four years ago, Kelley said.
“Today, we had 22,000 returned,” Kelley said.
Four years ago, about 550,000 absentee ballots were requested, but this time Kelley’s office responded to 794,000 requests for vote-by-mail ballots.
That amounts of half of the registered voters in Orange County, Kelley said.
There haven’t been any major issues at the polls, Kelley said.
