What is the Voter’s Choice Act?

In 2016, California lawmakers created the Voter’s Choice Act to revamp the state’s voting system, with the goal of providing voters in participating counties more flexibility on when and how they cast ballots.

Fifteen counties are participating this year: Los Angeles, along with Amador, Butte, Calaveras, El Dorado, Fresno, Madera, Mariposa, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Sacramento, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Tuolumne.

The most important change under this law is that it ends the use of neighborhood polling places in those counties. A more limited number of community vote centers, which provide services including voter registration, will open 10 days before election day. Additional vote centers will open the weekend before election day. The law also requires secure drop boxes for ballots to be put in place by early February.

Counties not participating in the Voter’s Choice Act will continue to use assigned polling locations. You can find the address of your polling place on the back page of the sample ballot booklet that was mailed to you. If you have not received your sample ballot, contact your county elections office.

L.A. County began mailing out its sample ballots Jan. 27. If you live in L.A. County and have not received your sample ballot in the mail, you can contact the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.

Voters in L.A. County also have the choice to view an electronic version of the sample ballot via email. You can also access an Interactive Sample Ballot to review and mark your selections before going to a voting center. It is not online voting.

In 14 of the California counties participating in the Voter’s Choice Act, every registered voter will receive a ballot in the mail. The one county where this isn’t happening is Los Angeles. L.A. County voters who don’t request an absentee ballot by Feb. 25 will have to visit a vote center to participate.

Los Angeles County voters will use a new interactive ballot-marking machine in the California primary on Tuesday. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)


When does the early voting period begin?

All counties in California will offer in-person early voting starting Feb. 3. Counties adopting the Voter’s Choice Act began to open ballot drop-off locations on Feb. 4.

Vote centers will begin opening Feb. 22 for in-person early voting.

