Voters appeared to be looking for the most efficient way to cast their ballots Tuesday, with the ballot dropbox at Wiseburn Library in Hawthorne much busier than the in-person polling location at Hollyglen Elementary School just next door.
A steady stream of voters stopped by, mostly on their way to work, to drop their ballots in the bin. Still, some voters took enough time to take photos and share their most pressing concerns or favorite candidates with The Times.
“Hopefully we see results, we want results,” said Raquel Rodriguez, 56, who dropped off her ballot with her mother Tuesday morning. The governor’s race was top of mind, and she said she decided to vote for Xavier Becerra, though she considered Tom Steyer.
“Steyer has been up there — but he’s a billionaire,” Rodriguez said. “What he’s saying sounds really good but I don’t know whether I can trust where he’s coming from.”
The issues she’s most focused on? “Universal health care, homelessness, gas prices, the economy, wages, … it’s everything,” she said, laughing.
Over at the elementary school, Byron Davis waited for his sister-in-law outside the in-person polling location after slapping on his “I voted” sticker.
“It was easy,” he said. “I did the QR code for the first time — smooth transaction.”
He said he was most interested in the outcome for governor and had also decided to vote for Becerra, though his middle-school-aged kids had been pushing for Steyer. He didn’t want to get into the specifics, but said his sister — a lawyer —helped him decide.
“My family all together came out and we were all speaking about it,” Davis, 43, said. He said it felt like “the right call.”
Most of the morning, there were more election workers at the polling place than voters. No one had to wait in line to vote, but election workers said they expected a surge after work.