Voters around Southern California faced long lines, sometimes waiting for hours, to cast their ballots before the polls closed at 8 p.m.
In Orange County, the wait time was four hours at UC Irvine and elections officials there had to bring in a mobile voting center to deal with the turnout, according to O.C. Registrar of Voters Bob Page. He said the wait time was so long because poll workers were encountering many first-time voters, who take longer to register. Some voting centers in Ventura County also saw particularly long lines, with elections officials reporting at 6:40 p.m. that more than 28,000 people had voted in person on Election Day.
“The lines are long but stay in line,” the Ventura County Clerk Recorder said on X. “If you are in line by 8PM, you still get to vote. Vote Centers will stay open as long as it takes until that last voter in line by 8pm votes!”
In Los Angeles County, more than 1.6 million people voted by mail while another 533,600 casted their ballot in person, according to the LA County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. More than 67,000 in the county had already voted by Friday, elections officials said.