‘The whole city is in limbo’: Anxious waiting as Bass, Caruso ballots counted for L.A. mayor – for now
Updated
Voters cast their ballots at the West Hollywood Public Library on Sunday. Photo: Alex Brandon, AP
Updated
The vote count in Los Angeles’ mayoral race for now has been suspended as the candidates struggle to respond to a judge’s order to remove electronic voting machines from the ballot boxes.
It was unclear in parts of downtown Los Angeles that voting was taking effect, or if that was part of the legal challenge to the electronic machines.
City officials have been working to preserve evidence of the process, including the machine’s software.
Some voters waited hours with concerns about whether their votes would be counted.
Bass was one of the candidates who voted at the West Hollywood Public Library on Sunday.
“I was a little concerned that we would have to re-vote. I thought, ‘Is that what we’re doing?’ But we went ahead and had fun,” bass said.
The vote at the library was the final poll on Sunday. Two hours later, the California secretary of state’s office was set to certify the election.
Voter records showed 7.2 million ballots were cast between June 1 and 5 in Los Angeles County.
The electronic machine used in the election, dubbed the Diebold touchscreen, is used by tens of thousands of voters. Some have complained how they have to touch the machine to get the results.
Judge declares vote-by-mail to be illegal
The race between Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa of the city and Republican Antonio Villaraigosa of the county was declared void by a judge on Thursday, a move that means that voters would have no way to send in a mail-in ballot after Tuesday.
Judge Larry Burns of L.A. Superior Court ruled that Los Angeles’ municipal election system was illegal because vote-