Menayjorie Webster brought her three-year-old along to the voting center at John Mack Elementary School on Monday afternoon. She wanted to teach him a vital lesson that preschool could not provide.
“I think it was very important, number one, for my kids, to see that voting is very important,” Webster said, “to take the time out of your day, to go ahead and, you know, do something important and make a change.”
This school in South Los Angeles is one of more than 600 polling places that have opened in Los Angeles County in the last two weeks. About a hundred vote centers opened in late October; this weekend, more than 500 additional ones opened around the county. These centers have made it easier for thousands of people to vote ahead of Election Day.
George Escobar, a student at California State University, Northridge, said he was glad Mack Elementary was open ahead of the election so he could cast his ballot.
“I’m going to be on campus tomorrow, so I wasn’t really going to have the time with the traffic coming all the way back, so I just decided to do it today,” Escobar said.
Per L.A. County guidelines, Annenberg Media wasn’t allowed to interview poll workers at the vote center. But their work was appreciated by voters like Gregory Scott, a production assistant from Los Angeles who said it was important for him to vote today, and not wait.
“I think the reason why I want to vote early is because I want my vote to count. I don’t want to wait around for the last second, you know, on Election Day and put in my vote,” Scott said. “I want to get in there quick and make sure that my vote counts.”
The county’s vote centers will remain open until 8 p.m. Election Day. Voters may also return mail-in ballots using the yellow drop-off boxes placed outside. And those who missed the registration deadline can still register in person at a vote center and cast a conditional ballot.