Los Angeles residents can now start voting in the primary municipal elections.

The Los Angeles primary municipal election will be held on March 7 and feature primary elections for mayor, city attorney and city council members.

Since Monday, residents can vote in person at the county registrar’s office in Norwalk, California. The county registrar has so far mailed more than two million ballots to residents registered to vote by mail.

Incumbent Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is running for re-election against several challengers, and UCLA voters will get to decide between incumbent Paul Koretz, attorney Jesse Creed and community organizer Mark Herd for Los Angeles’ fifth council district, which includes UCLA and Westwood.

There will also be several measures on the ballot, including two measures that would regulate and tax marijuana businesses after California legalized marijuana in November. Residents will also be able to vote for Measure S, which would limit new housing projects.

The undergraduate student government, led by External Vice President Rafi Sands, is campaigning against Measure S, arguing the measure would limit housing options in Westwood for students, even as enrollment is set to increase.

Sands said his office is working to get 5,000 students to vote this year by holding events, visiting students’ apartments and canvassing on campus. He said he thinks fall quarter’s BruinsVOTE! campaign, which registered more than 10,000 students to vote in the presidential election, will make it easier for his office to get students to vote.

Voters can continue to request a vote by mail ballot until Feb. 28 and must send them to the registrar’s office by March 10 for their votes to be counted. Ballots can also be dropped off at designated locations around the county.

Published by Rupan Bharanidaran

Bharanidaran is the News editor. He was previously a news reporter for the campus politics beat, covering student government and the UCLA administration.

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1 Comment

  1. The meaning of the word “CANDIDATE” is being candid, forthright, honest and truthful. If you do not practice these traits you are not qualified to be a Candidate.

    The Mayor and the city council must represent all the people with honesty and integrity.
    We are going from bad to worse; the people do not trust the government.
    Don’t you think it’s about time our elected officials face reality and represent the people honestly and truthfully and treat with disdain the politically correct mantra?

    The LA Times in the past year has rated the LA government with an “F” rating.
    Does a person running for office must buy his political position? That is not the way our system was set-up by our founding fathers. We have strayed greatly with our original purpose and it is detrimental to our future. Pension liability and benefits is in the billions per year and increasing. All laws must be enforced equally with no exceptions.

    I collected many of the signatures to be put on the ballot. I spoke to thousands of LA citizens and listened to what is bothering them, the distrust in government, the loss of businesses, the high cost of living and taxation and the deteriorating infrastructure, sub-par education, poor transportation – private and public. The bureaucracy is overwhelming Many have stated that voting is meaningless, the politicians do what they want to do anyway, about 3 out of 10 have stated that they are moving out of LA and out of the State of California, they stated taxes are high and cost of living is exorbitant.

    YJ Draiman for Mayor of Los Angeles 2017
    http://draimanformayor.com/

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