LA Community Colleges To Host Early Voting Centers For California Primary

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — All nine colleges of the Los Angeles Community College District will host multi-day voting centers for the March 3 primary election.

Each college will host a voting center for students and the public to vote early, prior to March 3. Each voting center will also offer free, temporary parking for voters.

"We want to make voting as easy and convenient as possible for students and all members of the LACCD community," said LACCD Board President Andra Hoffman. "With so many critical issues on the March ballot, I hope that everyone will participate in this election.  Our democracy depends on it," LACCD Board President Andra Hoffman said.

Los Angeles City College and Los Angeles Mission College will host 11-day voting centers that will operate from Saturday, Feb. 22 through March 3, 2020, including on Sundays. LACCD's other seven colleges —  Los Angeles Harbor, Los Angeles Pierce, Los Angeles Southwest, Los Angeles Trade-Technical, Los Angeles Valley, East Los Angeles and West Los Angeles — will host four-day voting centers from Saturday, Feb. 29 through March 3, 2020, also including Sunday.

All of the voting centers will be open from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. starting Feb. 22 through March 2, and then extended hours from 7 a.m to 8 p.m. on Election Day, March 3.

The voting centers are part of California Secretary of State Alex Padilla's initiative to encourage students to vote. The California Students Vote Project partners with most higher education institutions in the state to encourage student voter registration and provide easy access to polling locations. In 2016, the California Student Voter Registration Act passed, requiring every California community college and state university to allow its students to register to vote during class registration and other critical academic periods. The law also states that students must be able to register to vote through their college's web portal, via a link to the California Secretary of State online voter registration system.

"The district is working directly with Los Angeles County to make sure each college has a voting center that our students and the public can access," said LACCD Board Vice President Steven Veres. "Every election has issues that are of great concern for students and public education. We cannot stress enough the importance for everybody to cast their ballots. Not only is voting our right and duty, but we must seek to enable easy access to the ballot for all voters whenever possible,."

The L.A. County Registrar of Voters is deploying multi-day voting centers throughout the county, the locations of which can be found online.

Click here for statewide voter guide and other general information about the election process in California. Find general information about the election process in Los Angeles County here.