As the Nov. 3 election draws closer, many of us have yet to vote. Why? ‘Cause the ballot is long! Voting guides can help.

LAist has one: Our Voter Game Plan is a nonpartisan guide to elections in Los Angeles County and in Orange County that lays out the information you need to understand the positions and issues on the ballot and then evaluate your choices to make sure they align with your values and beliefs.

What we don’t do is tell you how to vote.

That said, we know it can also be helpful to look to organizations or individuals that you trust to see where they stand on a particular candidate or initiative, and use those endorsements as a guide for filling out your ballot.

That’s where this evolving guide to L.A.’s and O.C.’s many voting guides comes in. This is by no means an exhaustive list. But it’s a good place to start. To keep things simple, we have divided this list into four broad categories including guides that lean left — as Los Angeles and California overwhelmingly do — as well as guides that lean right, guides from the top political parties, and guides from news organizations. If we missed a guide that you think would be helpful to share here, please email us and we might include it:

Voter guides that lean to the left

This lists starts with organization local to L.A.:

East Area Progressive Democrats

The EAPD meets every month at a coffee house in Eagle Rock and started in late 2013 to fight for more progressive representation. With more than 1,100 members, they call themselves the largest Democratic club in L.A. County and California. EAPD says its top issues include housing for all, dignity for workers and universal healthcare. The group is led by Hans Johnson, an organizer who specializes in coalition strategy and environmental activism. Their endorsements are short and to the point.

Knock LA

Knock LA started as a Medium blog in 2017 when members of Ground Game LA, a grassroots community organizing group, decided to start their own news outlet for alt-weekly style coverage of the topics they cared most about, including police misconduct, labor abuse and the housing crisis. They are a self-described horizontally organized publication, meaning they try to make all major decisions by group consensus, and they don’t accept funding from advertisers or “any source that may influence [their] coverage.” The Knock team writes that their voter guide is a “labor of love for a better Los Angeles.” If you feel strongly about “building and preserving affordable housing, stopping planet-destroying emissions, reimagining public safety and getting people off the streets and sustainably into shelter and housing,” this is your guide.

La Defensa

This group describes themselves as “femme-led and abolitionist.” They are also affiliated with The La Defensa Justice PAC, which is dedicated to supporting progressive judicial candidates for L.A. County’s Superior Court. The group is led by mostly women of color who are immigration and social-justice minded. Their guide is a detailed one with candidates tagged with a hearty “endorsed,” a more tempered “recommended,” or a “harm reduction” label, which indicates that while the candidate doesn’t earn the group’s endorsement, they are seen as the best alternative. La Defensa also outlines their “vetting criteria” for individual candidates, explaining what factors they considered while determining endorsement.

L.A. Forward

L.A. Forward is a political organizing group working to grow and support a progressive base in almost every L.A. City Council District. Their guide breaks down the races and offers up details about why a particular candidate has earned their endorsement. L.A. Forward hosts a Progressive Campaign Leadership Academy to recruit and train a diverse cohort of Los Angeles County residents to be the next generation of candidates and campaign staffers, along with a Judicial Leadership Academy that helps social justice-oriented attorneys run for seats as Los Angeles County Superior Court judges.

Leyla’s Extremely Opinionated 2026 General Election Voter Guide

Leyla Farah is a self-described political junkie, tech nerd, travel addict and author of the book Black, Gifted and Gay. Her guide is on Medium and is delivered with a healthy dose of cynicism. It includes personal recommendations sprinkled with fun little disclaimers like “Our political system is a giant turducken” and “All candidate qualifications being equal, I’ll pick the non-white, non-guy, non-cis, non-straight (you get where I’m going with this) candidate every time.”

California Working Families Party

This one is a little different in that it’s a political party that sometimes runs its own candidates through Democratic Party primaries or on their own. The California Working Families Party was founded in 1998 by a coalition of labor unions. They describe themselves on X as “a progressive grassroots political party building a multiracial, feminist movement of working people to transform America.” Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders called the party “the closest thing to socialism” in 2016, although they officially endorsed U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren when she ran for president in 2020. Their endorsements are straightforward, and include candidates up and down the state, so you’ll need to sift through a bit to find Los Angeles. They also cover races in several other states, including Arizona, Colorado and Texas.

Courage California

A nonprofit organization with over a million members, according to their website, Courage California’s mission is to “defend and extend economic justice, human rights and corporate and political accountability.” Their “Know Your Vote” downloadable guide outlines the big-picture impact of each race and which California organizations support or oppose each proposition. Courage California also publishes the highly detailed Progressive Voter Guide, in which they “combine the endorsements of California’s leading progressive organizations with our expert knowledge and research” to provide recommendations for races at the local level too.

American Civil Liberties Union

The ACLU has long been recognized for supporting big-picture issues like criminal justice reform, immigrant rights and reproductive freedom. The Southern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has published a voter guide to propositions on this fall’s ballot.

While ACLU SoCal’s guide doesn’t get into individual candidate races, the organization’s nonpartisan political arm, ACLU California Action, does. They’ve published the survey results of a questionnaire submitted to candidates running for California Senate, Assembly, and two U.S. Congressional districts. The questions posed to candidates were answered with either “yes,” “no” or “no reply.” They’re intended to illuminate candidate viewpoints on larger issues like LGBTQ+ rights, homelessness and ICE activity.

Planned Parenthood Action Fund  

The political arm of Planned Parenthood bills itself as a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization involved in grassroots organizing, education campaigns and electioneering. Their mission is in line with Planned Parenthood writ large, according to their about page: “to improve the quality and affordability of reproductive and sexual health care, protect and expand services that prevent unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease and ensure continued access to safe, legal and confidential abortion care.” Accordingly, their 2026 voter guide endorses candidates based on their stance on family planning and women’s health. The national nonprofit endorses candidates for U.S. Congress, while the Los Angeles County contingent outlines who they support in local and state races.

Voter guides that lean to the right
Nancy’s Picks

Conservative Republican Nancy Sandoval says her guide aims to help the busy conservative voter who doesn’t have the time to do the research, but cares about voting in alignment with their conservative convictions, especially on lesser known items. Each election, she goes deep on all offices and propositions for all of Orange County’s city and county races.

Here is her 2026 midterm election guide. She bases her criteria on conservative convictions including securing and sealing the nation’s borders, parental rights in education and supporting an “America First” agenda. Sandoval explains her extensive methodology here: “The selections are made from group forums, personal knowledge, interviews, on-line research, questionnaires sent, various outside vote guides, candidate endorsements, voting records, candidate statements, testimonies of reliable secondary sources, and various news media. I also verify the amount of money a candidate has to run an effective campaign.”

Election Forum

This is a guide for evangelical Christians who say they’re fighting for conservative values locally. Election Forum is a national nonprofit with wings in Los Angeles and Nashville, led by conservative political commentator and author Craig Huey.

Their guide “will help you cut through the rhetoric, election propaganda and biased media coverage of the campaigns” by evaluating candidates based on their views on crime, government spending and the Bible, according to the group’s website. For access to their California guide, Election Forum requires you first register with your name, email and ZIP code.

Reform California

Assemblymember Carl DeMaio leads this group with the goal of “taking back our state from far-Left politicians and special interests.” DeMaio currently represents north and east San Diego County in the California Assembly’s 75th District. He’s also served one term on the San Diego City Council, hosts a conservative news radio show and is an enthusiastic supporter of President Donald Trump.

Beyond that, he is playing a huge role in the Nov. 3 general election: DeMaio is the architect behind Proposition 39, the voter ID initiative. You can hear more about DeMaio’s campaign here on the LAist podcast, Imperfect Paradise:

California Prop 39: What the voter ID measure may change & where it fits in the national battle

Reform California believes that the Democratic Party’s domination in California has become extremist and ineffective. According to Reform, their “Plain English,” all-state Voter Guide supports “the most principled reform-minded candidates” and “provides an easy-to-understand truthful description of deceptive ballot measures that politicians put on the ballot.” The organization also provides county-specific endorsements. Here’s the guide for Los Angeles County. Here’s the guide for Orange County.

Christian Voter Guide

This voter guide is national in scope but does include a guide to voting in local Orange County elections, including races in the Irvine Unified School District, Orange Unified School District and North Orange County Community College District.

The guide breaks down candidate answers to six questions, including their stance on removing books with explicit sexual content from schools and public libraries and whether individuals should be allowed to access school restrooms based on their gender expression.

Voter guides from political parties
Los Angeles County and Orange County Democratic Party

The L.A. County Democratic Party describes itself as the largest and most influential local Democratic Party in the country. This local chapter of the Democratic party is run by seven elected members who are chosen from each state Assembly district of Los Angeles County during presidential primaries — and serve as the official governing body of the LACDP.

The slate of endorsements go deep, including federal, state and local Los Angeles races. You can find the Orange County Democratic Party Statewide Endorsements here, and their guide to Orange County elections here.

Democratic Socialists of Los Angeles

The local chapter of Democratic Socialists of America, is endorsing nine candidates this election cycle, including Nithya Raman, who is hoping to make the jump from Los Angeles City Council member to mayor. The party identifies as “a team of union leaders, renters, tenant organizers, parents, and activists who are committed to working class values and ready to create real change across Los Angeles.”

The DSALA supports a “multiracial working class” and reforms like Medicare for All, defunding the police and the Green New Deal. They say they aren’t a political party or a nonprofit, but rather “a socialist organization,” according to their website.

The Republican Party of L.A. County and the Republican Party of Orange County

The L.A. GOP is chaired by Roxanne Hoge, an actor and business owner who unsuccessfully ran for a Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors seat in 2022. “With over 1 million Republicans registered, Los Angeles County is the largest Republican county party in the USA,” its website says. Here’s the L.A. GOP’s guide to the upcoming election and it’s goal: “We need you here to stop incompetent one-party rule. We want to connect you with the fellow Angelenos who want good governance and who believe in individual liberty.”

The Republican Party of Orange County has published its 2026 General Election voter guide here. The chair of the O.C. GOP is William O’Neill, an attorney who has served on the Newport Beach City Council and as mayor. Here’s why this election matters, O’Neill says in a statement on the O.C. GOP’s website: “What we do here in Orange County ripples throughout our state and our nation. We are a beacon of hope, safety, security, and freedom. We are the counterexample to the lawlessness and policy abuses inflicted by Democratic elected officials in Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Join us!”

Voter guides from news organizations
CalMatters 

Self-described as, “the leading nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom committed to explaining California politics and policy,” CalMatters’ voter guide is exhaustive. It has categories for state offices, the Legislature, and propositions, and includes side-by-side comparisons of candidate campaign finance. This voter guide also includes incredibly accessible explanations of individual propositions and the reasons to support or oppose each measure. One standout feature of CalMatters’ guide is the “proposition quizzes”; it’s an interactive series of questions that helps you “weigh your thoughts on each ballot measure to figure out how to vote.”

Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times got out of the endorsement game after its owner spiked the editorial board’s presidential endorsement in 2024, leading several staff members to resign in protest. As it has for many years, though, the paper’s news staff produces thorough, non-endorsement-style guides to statewide and local elections. The outlet’s guide can be found here.

The Orange County Register

The Register’s Voter Guide goes deep on Orange County candidates as well as candidates whose districts straddle Los Angeles. It also publishes in-depth looks at races and measures that cut across the state. This one leans more “guide” and less “endorsement” in that each candidate is offered the chance to fill out a questionnaire where they answer questions about “housing policy, the state’s role in working with or against the federal government on issues impacting Californians, what’s next for disaster relief efforts, among other important topics.”

The LAist guide to voter guides was first published in 2024 and written by journalist Gina Pollack, and has since been updated. LAist’s Rene Lynch also contributed to this report. If you have a voter guide you think should be included here, email us a link to the guide, with a brief explanation about why you believe LAist readers will find it helpful.