Some voters arrived at their local polling centers in the morning, others tried to squeeze in a vote during their lunch break and many more waited in the dark as Election Day came to a close on Tuesday.
Voters told The LA Local about the myriad issues that brought them to the polls: the cost of groceries, ICE and simply exercising their right to vote. The mayor’s race between Karen Bass and Nithya Raman also weighed heavily on voter’s minds.
ICE, cost of living and helping others
The cost of gas and groceries were critical issues for multiple voters, including Kari Pederson, 37.
“I think everyone’s feeling it, and incredibly important to vote today,” Pederson said outside the Anderson Munger Family YMCA in Koreatown.
Pederson voted to also “make sure that all the incredible people that live here feel safe, and that marginalized communities are protected, and that ICE isn’t coming into our communities and terrorizing people.”
Immigration enforcement was front of mind at Angelica Lutheran Church in Pico Union, where Micayla Bozeman, a law student at UCLA, volunteered at the polling center as a “democracy defender” with the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.
Bozeman documented and observed the area for any potential ICE activity.
The specific voting center was chosen, because there have been federal agents spotted in the area in the past, she said.
“It’s important for everyone to feel safe to cast their ballot and not be afraid that the government is going to try to detain them,” Bozeman said.
Ingrid Jui, a Pico Union resident for the last 14 years, says she voted to exercise her right as a citizen and support people from all walks of life in the community.
Jui added that she likes Angelic Lutheran Church because of its accessibility and ample parking.
“I came to vote because it’s our opportunity to make a difference and it’s not fair to complain if we’re not going to vote, so as citizens we have that right and privilege to go and vote for candidates and a better world,” Jui said.
Melissa Manousos volunteered as a neighborhood vote protector with LA Forward at Central City Neighborhood Partners in Westlake to help ensure voters were not harassed, discouraged, or turned away.
“Vote protecting is basically about making sure that everybody feels welcome at the polls, that they’re not being harassed or discouraged from voting, especially as it gets later in the day,” Manousos said.
Valerie Davis, 29, did not go to the polls for any one particular issue, but more in response to the current state of the country.
“For me, the displacement of families with ICE and just everything we’ve seen from this current administration, I will continue to exercise my right to vote, to vote against the things that I do not believe in and I do not see,” Davis said at the polling center in Koreatown. “And for me, the things that we have experienced with our current president just calls for a sweeping of everything.”
Propositions
Kyle Lawrence, 49, voted in support of Proposition 40 or what many voters called “the billionaire tax.”
Lawrence views the counter advertisements to the proposition were misleading ahead of Election Day.
“The ads that I’m seeing are like, you know, ‘Don’t let them tax your retirement funds’ or whatever, and it’s like they’re trying to protect their own wealth, even though in the ads it’s trying to show you everyday people who are like teachers,” Lawrence said outside the vote center in Koreatown.
Tara Lynn Roberts, 59, also felt the messaging on the propositions advertisements were unclear.
“Taxes for the wealthy versus taxes for the middle class and the not so middle class,” said Roberts, a US Army veteran. “It seems like a lot of the propositions are wording themselves like they’re in favor for us, but they’re more in favor for the rich. I I think.”
Lito Nuval stopped by his local polling place in Koreatown before he started his work day in El Segundo. He was also a little confused about the propositions based on the advertisements.
“I don’t know who’s telling the truth there, because let’s say you can see some ‘Yes’ on the other side, on ‘No’ on the other same commercial. Then some congressman or whoever mayor saying the other thing, and then the opposition saying the wrong thing on the other side,” Nuval said.
He added, “I don’t know if it’s wrong information or true information.”
Mayor’s race
Tara Lynn Roberts was a bit conflicted about the mayor’s race, even though she could see the argument for both Raman and Bass.
“As someone who is a transplant, recently moved to LA during Mayor Bass’s first term, I have gotten acclimated to certain things, but also want to see certain changes, like with the unhoused population,” Roberts said. “A lot of people tell us that this is our Mandani moment with the other opposing candidate. So it’s just very very interesting.”
Kari Pederson decided that Raman was the right candidate for the job.
“I think that she would be an incredible progressive leader for this city, and I’m really excited to see what she’ll do when she wins,” Pederson said. “I think that she has a ton of great ideas and a track record of very efficiently and effectively investing in infrastructure and caring about what matters in the day-to-day lives of people who live in the city, and I think that she stands up for the little guy, which is really important.”
End of day
After working a full shift at a pharmacy, Sienna Opara, 31, waited in line at the Anderson Munger Family YMCA for over 90 minutes with her mother and young daughter.
“It’s been a long wait but I’m actually happy to see that it’s such a big turnout,” Opara said as her daughter played on her iPad.
She added that it was exciting to see people of all ages outside because it shows that every age group wants change.
When polls closed at 8:30 p.m., Betsy Stover and her son, Ajax Voukydis, handed out water bottles and granola bars to the nearly 30 people still waiting in line to vote outside the Anderson Munger Family YMCA.
“We heard there was like a two-hour wait over here, and we live really close by, so I thought people might be coming from work and they might have been waiting in line for a long time, so we just wanted to get them some water and some granola bars, just so they stay in line and vote,” Stover said.
Stover, who has lived in Koreatown for 14 years, already voted earlier in the day and said that she’s proud of how people made it out to the polls across the country.
“I’m hoping that the pendulum will swing in a really positive direction, and here’s hoping that we are stepping forward into a positive chapter in our history,” Stover said.
