"People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote -- a very different thing."
"-"-- Walter H. Judd
Los Angeles County Voter Turnout:
On Tuesday, November 26th the Los Angeles County Clerk released the final update for the 2024 election. While the same strategies were in place this year to encourage participation as in the last presidential election, turnout was 12.59% lower than in 2000. Voter registration increased slightly but 546,155 fewer people voted. The 66.10% turnout rate was the smallest of the Trump era:
Charter School Industry operative Michael Trujillo trying to build momentum for his candidate on Twitter.
(Image by Carl J. Petersen) Details DMCA
Presidential Results:
In deep blue Los Angeles, it is no surprise that Kamala Harris easily beat Donald Trump, more than doubling his vote count. However, she underperformed Hilary Clinton and Joe Biden by more than six percentage points.
Trump has steadily improved his performance over the past three elections, rising from 22.5% in 2016 to 31.91% this year. In 2020, most of the gain came at the expense of the third-party candidates, but this year, it all came from the Democrats.
Third-Party Scraps:
Voters in Los Angeles County have four options beyond the two major parties: Green, Libertarian, American Independent, and Peace and Freedom. Combined, these parties have seen a reduced share of the votes during the Trump years. However, all but the Libertarians saw improved results over 2020.
The steady decline of the Libertarian party is perplexing. It would seem that a party "strongly oppose[d to] any government interference into their personal, family, and business decisions" would thrive in an election where one of the candidates espouses authoritarian rule. Perhaps they are not "The Party of Principle," but just care about pushing any politician who says they will "cut and eliminate taxes at every opportunity", no matter the cost to our civil liberties.
The American Independent Party claims that "it's time for California to declare independence from the antiquated two-party system." They then chose to be represented by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who originally ran in the Democratic primary and later dropped off the ballot in some states to endorse the Republican.
Law and Order over Justice?
In the wake of the killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Rekia Boyd, Black Lives Matter (BLM) was formed to draw attention to police brutality and racially motivated violence against black people. In the subsequent examination of the approach to criminal justice, Californians passed Proposition 47 which revamped criminal sentences and misdemeanor penalties. In Los Angeles County 64.29% of the electorate voted "Yes."
The murder of George Floyd in 2020 further drew attention to the inequities in the system. In the aftermath of the resulting protests, including a local incident where the incumbent's husband pulled a gun on BLM protestors, George Gascon was elected District Attorney with 53.53% of the vote.
Despite a crime rate in line with what Angelenos have experienced since 2016, the public perception is that crime has skyrocketed out of control. This is driven by media coverage that has magnified crime, especially surrounding smash-and-grab robberies. With fear in control, 64.3% of voters in Los Angeles County voted to repeal Proposition 47. Nathan Hochman will replace Gascon after promising to roll back criminal justice reforms. Hochman earned 59.89% of the vote.
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