There is an ominous calm filling the streets of Santa Monica as police cruisers roll by boarded-up businesses and people sit at home in anxious anticipation of tonights’ results. The polls are similarly quiet this morning with local wait times all under 15 minutes, due to the fact that 2.6 million Angelenos voted prior to Election Day.
There are 10 vote centers open in Santa Monica and 793 open across LA. As of 11 a.m. this morning 75,000 voters cast their ballots at the polls in addition to 535,000 voters who took advantage of early in-person voting over the past 10 days.
“We had a lot of activity during the 10 day early voting period, and certainly unprecedented activity with our vote by mail ballot," said County Clerk Dean Logan in a press conference this morning. "But there are still a lot of voters out there that have ballots in their hands, or who are planning to vote today so we want to remind those voters, do not wait until late tonight to go to your vote center.”
While poll wait times are largely under 15 minutes across LA, this will likely increase as we approach the 8 p.m. closing time, according to Logan. Ballots can also be turned in at a drop-off box today or mailed via USPS.
There is a heightened police presence across Santa Monica in preparation for any election related incidents.
“We have no specific information regarding threats to this community at this time,” said SMPD Interim Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks, in a message to the community this morning. "However, our intelligence units have clear lines of communication with our federal, regional and local partners. We're consistently monitoring social media, traditional media and other intelligence sources and occurrences that are happening in other cities.”
After polls close at 8 p.m., the City will release local election results from early voting at www.smvote.org and the County will release the results of vote by mail ballots that were returned through Saturday at www.results.lavote.net. Shortly after this, County results will be updated with the ballots cast in-person during the 10 day early voting period.
The City and County will continuously update their websites this evening as more ballots are counted.
Clara@smdp.com
