Empty Glassell Park vote center

An empty vote center in Glassell Park, during a previous election.

Photo by Volker Corell

This article was originally published by Boyle Heights Beat, a nonprofit newsroom of the L.A. Local News Initiative serving Boyle Heights and East L.A., on October 6.

Boyle Heights residents seeking to vote in person in the Nov. 4 special election will have to travel to East Los Angeles, Downtown L.A., or another Eastside neighborhood for the nearest vote center, as no polling place will be located in their community.


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Community groups raise the alarm

The news has alarmed local organizers, including InnerCity Struggle, a Boyle Heights-based group that conducts voter outreach in the Eastside. Members of the organization discovered the community’s lack of vote centers last Friday while reviewing the L.A. County Vote Centers map.

“It creates additional and unnecessary challenges for our community to vote, especially in Boyle Heights, a predominantly pedestrian community,” said Henry Perez, executive director of InnerCity Struggle. “When voters don’t see a voting location near them or within walking distance, this will just create a lot of discouragement for them to vote.”

Perez said voters may decide it’s too difficult for them to get to a polling location, adding that immigration raids are contributing to the stress and anxiety that residents are experiencing when it comes to traveling.

Officials confirm fewer vote centers across L.A.

Mike Sanchez, the senior public information specialist for the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, confirmed there will be fewer vote centers across the county this year compared with the 2024 general election.

Sanchez said 250 vote centers are listed across L.A. County for the upcoming special election, including 111 that will open this Saturday. Last year’s general election had more than 640. 

Sanchez said it takes months to identify facilities that could operate as vote centers. Criteria include having enough space to accommodate equipment, having network capability, and being near public transportation, he said.

“The special election is not something we had in our calendar at the beginning of the year,” said Sanchez. “That impacts election offices’ ability to recruit and select voting locations.”

He explained that the county registrar-recorder reached out to a community space in Boyle Heights that has historically served as a vote center, but “unfortunately, they were unavailable to serve as a vote center in this election.”

“The voter locations that we have set [for the special election] are not going to change,” he added. 


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Voters to decide on Proposition 50 

On the ballot is Proposition 50, a measure that, if passed, would redraw California’s congressional maps to help Democrats win more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom launched the effort behind Proposition 50 after the Texas state Legislature approved new maps that would give Republicans an advantage in the 2026 midterm elections. California’s state Legislature approved the new maps in August, as LAist reported.

Unlike Texas, however, redistricting in California is supposed to happen through an independent redistricting commission — a politically balanced group of citizens who are not connected to political office. Voters approved the nonpartisan system in 2008, so they need to approve any proposed changes to it. That’s why Proposition 50 is on the ballot this year, according to LAist.

Calls for equity 

Perez understands the fact that there will be fewer voting polls during the special election, but he said, the county registrar “should consider how to distribute voting polls in an equitable manner … considering mobility factors and current safety factors related to ICE raids that our predominantly Latinx immigrant communities are facing in Boyle Heights.”

Typically, vote centers in Boyle Heights have been located in churches, schools, parks, and libraries. “This is the first time, I’m aware of, that there is absolutely no polling location in Boyle Heights,” Perez said. 

“The community has been able to go within walking distance of their homes and vote,” Perez added.

Perez said there should be a minimum of three polling locations in Boyle Heights for the special election, spread through the north and south ends, as well as in central Boyle Heights. 

Currently, there are no concrete plans to help voters get to polling locations in the general area, Perez said, adding that they’re focusing on “letting voters know that there is an election.”

“We absolutely plan on contacting our elected representatives to express our shock, our disappointment, our frustration,” Perez said. “We encourage them to immediately work together to figure something out so that Boyle Heights does get to the voting polls before the election arrives.”

Find a vote center nearby

A full list of voting centers can be found here. 

Our Lady of Guadalupe Church: 4018 Hammel St., Los Angeles, CA 90063Griffin Avenue Elementary School: 2025 Griffin Ave., Los Angeles, CA 900314th Street Elementary School: 420 Amalia Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90022Metro Headquarters: 1 Gateway Plz., Los Angeles, CA 90012Inner-City Arts: 720 Kohler St., Los Angeles, CA 90021Millennium Biltmore Tower: 500 S. Grand Ave. Suite 100 Tower Lobby, Los Angeles, CA 90071Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration: 500 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, CA 90012James Wood Community Center: 400 E. 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90013Barrio Action Youth and Family Center: 4927 Huntington Dr. N 200, Los Angeles, CA 90032Ramona Hall Community Center: 4580 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles CA 90065Cal State University Los Angeles: 5151 State University Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90032

Read more by Alejandra Molina

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