First published in the June 2 print issue of the Outlook Valley Sun.
The primary election is only days away and La Cañada Flintridge residents who have yet to complete their ballots and cast their votes need not fret because there is still time to submit them in one of various ways.
Ballots were mailed out to Californians nearly one month ago and residents can return them using the U.S. Postal Service. No postage is required when mailing in your ballot and all submissions must be postmarked by Election Day, which is Tuesday, June 7.
LCF residents can also submit completed ballots by dropping them off at the Los Angeles County ballot box located in front of the LCF Library any time before the 8 p.m. deadline on Tuesday or at one of the city’s voting centers.
The La Cañada Unified School District will open its board room on Cornishon Avenue this Saturday through Tuesday to give LCF residents an opportunity to vote in person. The district board room will close off in-person voting by the 8 p.m. deadline on Tuesday.
Another option for community members who prefer to vote in person is at City Hall on Monday, June 6. The David A. Spence community room will serve as the city’s flex vote center site from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
LCF residents have a stacked ballot that will help determine the state’s governor, seats in the Senate and House of Representatives, judges and Sheriff of L.A. County. Though they will not have a say in the race for mayor of Los Angeles that has dominated headlines, La Cañada voters will seat two of four candidates running for LCF City Council.
Vying for one of those seats is incumbent Mike Davitt, who is seeking re-election and has served on the council since 2011, and current Parks and Recreation Commissioners Kim Bowman and Marija Decker. Longtime LCF resident Jack Schaedel is also in the running for City Council.
According to information from Political Data, Inc., a company that gathers voter data, LCF has had only 10% of 15,554 ballots returned as of May 31. The slow voter turnout leading up to Election Day isn’t exclusive to La Cañada. Just over 2 million ballots in California had been returned as of Tuesday, which is only 9% of registered voters — a trend that concerns LCF Mayor Pro Tem Keith Eich, who urged LCF residents to do their part in a democracy.
“Voting is an important part of our democracy. Vote early or vote on Election Day,” he said. “My dad used to tell us as young adults, ‘The right to vote expresses who we are as individuals, as a group, as a country and as a world.’”
