Hours After Polls Close, Voters Waiting In Long Lines To Make Their Voices Heard
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — It's Super Tuesday, and for the first time Californians weighed in on who should be the Democratic presidential nominee.
Voting has been underway in Norwalk since 8 a.m. Monday, where the L.A. County Registrar/Recorder for the first time set up a 24-hour voting center. It's the biggest of six 24-hour voting centers across the county.
One voter said she visited her Toluca Lake vote center, St. Charles Borromeo Church, Tuesday afternoon only to have to come back Tuesday night due to the long wait.
"It was a 2.5-hour wait then, and I only had a couple hours off of work, so I hit up another location and it was also a 2.5-hour wait," she said. "At the end of the day, I thought I'd come into a shorter line, but it's twice as long."
Another voter in Santa Monica said she waited three hours to mark her digital ballot.
"The wait was three hours," CJ Leedy, a voter, said. "I think these people have a little bit longer to go than I did, but I just got out."
Due to long wait times at polling centers in Los Angeles County, the Bernie Sanders campaign filed an emergency motion to keep polls in the county open later than 8 p.m.
In the motion, the campaign listed a number of problematic locations including Logan Elementary School in Echo Park, Evergreen Recreation Center on East 2nd Street, Echo Park Recreation Center, Mayberry Elementary, Santa Monica Community College, True Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, Santa Monica Virginia Park, Ackerman Union at 308 Westwood Plaza, St. Charles Borromeo Church, Plummer Park Community Center, Crenshaw Mall, Buena Vista Library in Burbank, Elysian Masonic Lodge, Yucca Community Center, Cal State University North Ridge and Westchester Senior Center.
The motion alleges that the long wait times at these vote centers, many caused by a lack of check-in stations and technology problems with the new voting systems, violated the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of voters in the county.
The motion requested that the voting locations remain open until 10 p.m.
L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan said in a Tuesday night press conference that his office had also considered going to court to extend the hours, but felt that would not be appropriate since voters were already at the vote centers.
"Obviously today has been a challenging day for Los Angeles County, first and foremost for Los Angeles County voters," Logan said. "I want to address that first and just express my appreciation and thanks to the voters who came out to vote today and my apology for those who are still in line and waiting to vote. My commitment is that we will serve you tonight, and make sure you have the opportunity to cast your ballot."
He reiterated that those in line by 8 p.m. would be able to cast their vote, regardless of how long that would take.
Early-voting centers had been open throughout the county since Saturday. Polls opened at 7 a.m. and closed at 8 p.m.