As the vote count rolls, our journalists roll out across the county to get a snapshot of what L.A. election day looks like as we near the end of this election season. California voting centers will close at 8 p.m. tonight before the ballots are processed, meanwhile several election watch parties are occurring.
This is a momentous election where uncertainty turns everyone’s eyes to what our next four years will look like. This day captivates the nation and depending on how the night plays out, it might leave more questions unanswered.
The story will be updated throughout election night from the reporting of our photojournalists.
1:30 p.m.
4:15 p.m.
Riley Callahan, a freshman at USC, spent election day waiting, sitting on the sidewalk while the line moved slowly. He was nearing the front of the line. “[I’ve] mostly just been waiting here for two and a half hours now… [afterwards I will] go get food, watch the results and see what’s happening,” Callahan said.
Robert Flores just got off work and felt lucky that the polling station in the Village was nearby his job. “Just doing a part of my civic duty to go vote. I was expecting my fiancée, but I don’t think she’s going to get out on time, so I beat her to the punch,” Flores said. “I am just going to wait around to see when she shows up. I’m excited about casting my vote.”
5 p.m.
6 p.m.
USC Annenberg is hosting a viewing and panel discussion with live analysis in Wallis Annenberg Hall. This forum is open to students, alumni and guests. A couple students had shown up around 3:30 p.m., but by 6 p.m. most of the forum had been filled an hour ahead of the event beginning.
Tejaswani Gupta, a freshman studying international relations in global business is waiting in the forum for the panel to begin. “I’ve been speaking to a lot of professors and they’ve had a lot of interesting views,” Gupta said. “Everyone’s really frightened and nervous to see how it’s all going turn out because it has big repercussions for everyone.”
Zayanna Serrano started her day early she is a junior studying political science and the election was at the top of her mind. “I feel like I have been thinking about it all day, none of my classes were cancelled. I actually woke up at 6:30 a.m. today to go vote at 7 because there was no one there, a five minute line [it was] beautiful, nothing like it is right now,” Serrano said.
6:45 p.m.
At the CADEM’s watch party, attendees are expected when the event starts a little after 8 p.m. Currently about 60 tables are set up with signs, pins and Harris-Walz t-shirts for the people expecting to fill those seats.
7:30 p.m.
Nathan Hochman, a candidate for Los Angeles district attorney, is hosting his event in Beverly Hills. His opposition in the race Gascón is at the CADEM’s watch party downtown.
Sarah Mwangi, a sophomore studying acting, came to vote in the USC Village right after class and has been waiting for two hours out of what they are expecting may be a five hour wait. “We are still sitting here,” Mwangi said. “We are entertaining ourselves with food, drinks and a game of Uno which I just won... I am not optimistic about the turnout, but honestly I am here, I’m voting and I think that is really all that matters.”
Any qualified voter who is in line waiting at 8 p.m. has the right to cast their vote.
8 p.m.
An attendee at Hochman’s election event, Jennifer McDonald was an early voter, she spent election night away from the lines. “I voted last week so my Election Day was getting up early this morning and going to work,” McDonald said. “Putting in a full day of work and then coming to the Hochman party, hopefully [we’ll] celebrate a new day for the district attorney’s office.”
8:30 p.m.
Eulanda Matthews came to the CADEM’s watch party with her sister. “My election day today started out with prayer, on a women’s prayer line, and we prayed for Kamala. And for the outcome of the elections across the country, that everyone would be peaceful and safe,” Matthews said. “Then I went into my emails and texts sending out encouraging words to folks...It was too early in the game to start concerning myself with election results.”
8:45 p.m.
An international student Yunqiu Xu is worried while watching the election unfold in Annenberg. “As an international student, I feel very desperate and all the states are turning red — just horrible,” Xu said.
9:15 p.m.
9:30 p.m.
9:45 p.m.
Scott McAfee, a businessman, was attending the L.A. GOP watch party in Long Beach held at a Roscoe’s House of Chicken ‘n Waffles. “I’ve been apprehensive coming up to this day and it is kind of like I’ll believe it when I’ve seen it,” McAfee said. “It hasn’t happened yet, they have not called this race for President Trump. It is looking very good and that is extremely encouraging. For me that isn’t a guarantee that this country will remain strong and turn around from its current course, but at least it certainly gives us hope if that happens.”
10 p.m.
Andrew Yanez, a political consultant and marketing strategist, recounted it is stressful seeing if months of his work paid off. “My election day is stressful in the morning and even more stressful afterwards,” Yanez said. “There is a different level of stress when you can control what you can and can’t do. Now after a certain time it becomes — you are just dust in the wind, and it is just: where does the wind take you, what are we going to do next? Just looking at the results of months of work.”
One of the attendees in Annenberg, Monet Washington, had their outlook reversed on Election Day. “Starting off in the day, I was really hopeful and I feel like I was surrounded by people who were restoring my hope that Kamala would win,” Washington said. “But throughout the day, I just became more aware of the realities and as the votes started pouring in, I got a reality check and it was really disappointing.”
Timothy O’Reilly, the chairman of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County, was among the 60 to 80 attendees that fluctuated at this Long Beach watch party. Gathering in this way allowed them to feel the freedom to express their Republican beliefs which many felt were not accepted generally in California.
“[This] election watch party for Donald Trump is one of about seven that we have going within the county of Los Angeles,” O’Reilly said. “This has been a phenomenal day... I think we’re going to see a huge shift in voter turnout for us. So we’re very excited about that, it’s going to take us a while to get California back to its conservative roots, but what we’re seeing nationally appears to look very exciting — in fact, it does appear that we’re going to have a new Trump presidency. So this is going to be a great day for America.”
10:15 p.m.
Around 10:15 p.m. the voting center in the village wrapped up their polling for those who were still in line to vote at 8 p.m.
11 p.m.
