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Election rundown
One day remains until California voters decide, or at least advance, races for their next governor, congressional representatives, city mayors, judges and local ballot measures.
In Long Beach, the five odd-numbered City Council districts, mayor, city auditor and school district trustees, among others, are all up for election. Voters are also asked to consider a sales tax to support healthcare, the L.A. County Sheriff’s race, and 15 superior court judges on the ballot.
Some races are especially cumbersome this year — the governor’s race alone has 60-plus candidates. As an antidote, a coalition of nonprofit newsrooms (us, LAist and CalMatters) has compiled useful information to help you navigate the election with ease. Check out our nonpartisan, fact-based voter guide at LBPost.com/elections. It won’t tell you who to vote for, but it will arm you with the information you need to feel confident in your decision.
The statewide and local races you’re voting in follow an open primary system. That means unless someone gets more than 50% of the vote, the top two candidate will advance to the general election in November, regardless of their party.
There were more than 269,000 registered voters in Long Beach as of 2024. More than half of them were Democrats (143,000), while another 46,000 were Republicans. Many more were undeclared. Now let’s figure out your voting status, which you can check here. Have your driver’s license or last four digits of your Social Security number handy.
If you’re registered to vote in California, you are likely among the 5.8 million voters in L.A. County who already received a vote-by-mail ballot. If you’ve already mailed your ballot and I’m wasting my breath, that’s terrific to hear — you can track it here.
If not, never fear; it’s not too late to return it. A list and map of vote center locations are available here. Punch in an address in the upper left search bar to find a spot near you. You can drop it off at any polling place, dropbox or county elections office. In order to be counted, the envelope must be postmarked no later than Tuesday and received by your county elections office by June 9.
Let’s say you’d rather vote in person. On Election Day, June 2, the centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. If you are in line by 8 p.m., you will be allowed to vote.
California also offers same-day voter registration, which lets people register at vote centers, then cast a provisional ballot. Just request one in person at a county polling location. Once county elections officials process the registration and validate the information, registration becomes permanent and the provisional ballot will be counted. For more info about same-day registration, click here.
Don’t expect immediate results on Tuesday night. According to county registrar-recorder spokesperson Mike Sanchez, the first two rounds of returns should drop between 8:30 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. to 9 p.m. These are all the pre-counted vote-by-mail and early voting ballots.
From there, the office says it receives all the in-person ballots that night and should start counting them by 10:30 p.m., reflected in several updates that will drop throughout the night. Some races might be decided shortly after the polls close, while others might be tighter than you realize and too close to call for days or weeks. (This is where those last-minute mail-in and provisional ballots can come into play.)
We’ll be up late Tuesday night, giving you the play-by-play at LBPost.com.
City news and meetings
- The Downtown Long Beach Alliance is continuing a survey on downtown events to see what kinds of activities people want. Fill it out here. It’s open through June 30.
- Rep. Robert Garcia joined Congressman Derek Tran on Thursday to demand answers from GKN Aerospace about why a tank at its Garden Grove plant came so close to exploding, forcing 50,000 residents to evacuate the area. “We need answers on what happened, why it happened, how they will prevent this from happening again,” Garcia wrote in a news release.
- The Long Beach Police Department will detail how it is spending its share of local Measure A tax money at a city committee meeting inside the Civic Chambers on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. Click here to review their presentation.
- Expect an uptick in your water bill by this fall. The Long Beach Board of Public Utilities Commissioners on Thursday will review a 6% increase to water rates and an 8% increase in sewer rates. Together, the difference — which would take effect in October — equates to $5.74 more per month for the typical household.
- State legislators in the California Assembly have advanced AB 2461, which would help uphold legal obligations by oil companies — and the companies that purchase wells — to plug them and pay for any associated cleanup. California has more than 87,000 oil and gas wells that will eventually need to be cleaned up — a total cost of $21.5 billion that dwarfs the estimated $156 million that state regulators say oil and gas companies have provided. The bill now heads to the Senate later this year.
ICYMI — California and national news
- Construction begins on long-awaited $105 million beachside pool in Belmont Shore (Long Beach Post)
- Overcoming a lawsuit and ‘lots of battle scars,’ affordable housing project breaks ground in East Long Beach (Long Beach Post)
- Does Long Beach deserve more say over Metro? There’s a push for a dedicated board member (LAist)
- The robot puppeteers of Silicon Valley teaching humanoids how to make your morning coffee (Los Angeles Times)
- Struggling Carls Jr. franchisee plans to close 10 and sell 49 California locations (Los Angeles Times)