646 vote – With days left before the June 2 Los Angeles primary, President Trump repeated misleading claims that voting in Los Angeles is only by mail. Los Angeles County election officials responded by pointing to 646 in-person vote centers countywide—multiple-booth loc
President Trump made a fresh stop in a debate that’s been running for years—then insisted, again, that Los Angeles doesn’t offer traditional voting.
Saturday. during an appearance on Fox News. Trump was asked by host Lara Trump about his predictions for the upcoming June 2 primary. He responded that “they don’t have voting booths; everything’s by mail. ” adding that Republicans can’t win in California “unless you pass the Save America Act.” In his telling. the measure would force voters to “show proof of citizenship” and “get rid of mail-in voting.”.
On Sunday morning, the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder moved quickly to correct the record. In a tweet posted under the heading “MISINFORMATION ALERT. ” the agency said there are 646 vote centers open in Los Angeles County. and that all of them have multiple voting booths. The posting said the centers would be open Monday and Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., with Election Day hours Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. It also said mobile vote centers would be available at various sites in the county.
A map of polling locations on the agency’s website shows that dozens of vote centers are available countywide. The county also described how in-person options fit with the mail ballots already in circulation: residents who want to vote in person can take their mail-in ballot to a vote center and ask to vote in person instead.
For voters who haven’t registered yet, the registrar-recorder said conditional voter registration applications are available at any voter center, and voters can fill out their ballot as they normally would.
The correction matters because Trump’s comments landed with only days left before the June 2 primary—when millions of decisions are already underway. As of Friday morning. 333. 000 mail-in votes had been cast in the June 2 primary for Los Angeles mayor. city attorney. city controller. and eight of the 15 City Council seats. That total was up from 321,000 at the same time in 2022, according to the registrar-recorder.
The Los Angeles race itself has been tight. Recent polling described by the registrar-recorder’s update says incumbent Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has what pollsters call a statistically insignificant lead in her bid for reelection as the city’s top executive. Bass is locked in a close contest with councilmember and former ally Nithya Raman and Spencer Pratt.
Trump has signaled support for Pratt but has not formally endorsed him; Pratt is described as a former reality TV star and registered Republican. Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon said Trump hadn’t formally endorsed Pratt out of fear it would hurt Pratt’s chances in Democrat-dominant Los Angeles.
The push-and-pull over voting methods also has a national backdrop. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statewide order for voting by mail for that year’s election. describing it as a necessary step to limit the virus’ spread. The record also notes that a handful of rural counties had no in-person voting locations that March.
California’s history also runs deeper than this week’s headlines. In 1979. the state eliminated the need for an excuse to receive an absentee ballot. and an option to choose permanent absentee voting was created in 2002. Over the decades. Californians embraced the flexibility of voting away from a polling place: in nearly every statewide election since 2008. the majority of votes have not been cast at a traditional polling place.
More counties have moved toward a different model. Fourteen more counties—including Orange. Sacramento. and Santa Clara—have adopted the state Voter’s Choice Act. an optional state law that mails every voter a ballot and replaces traditional neighborhood polling places with multipurpose vote centers. Those in-person locations provide multiple election services for up to 10 days before election day.
Los Angeles became the 15th county to adopt the new state law, and the Legislature initially gave the county special permission to implement it without mailing every voter a ballot.
Nationally. Trump has for years repeated baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen and that undocumented immigrants were swaying elections by voting illegally. In light of those claims, Trump and some Republicans have pushed for new restrictions on voters. A federal proposal known as the Save America Act—requiring Americans to prove they are U.S. citizens before they register to vote and to show identification at the polls, among other things—cleared the U.S. House but stalled out in the Senate.
California voters will weigh in again in November on a ballot measure pushed by Republicans. Under that proposal, voters would be required to show identification every time they vote in person, or provide a special PIN when submitting mail-in ballots.
Under current state law. Californians are required to provide identification when registering to vote and must swear under penalty of perjury. a felony. that they are eligible to vote and are U.S. citizens. They are not required to show or provide identification when casting a ballot in person or by mail.
If passed. the California ballot measure would require voters to present government-issued identification—such as a state driver’s license—every time they vote. Voters mailing ballots would be required to write a four-digit number on their ballot envelopes matching the one generated when they registered to vote.
Critics of California’s voter ID initiative—including many legal scholars—say the ballot measure addresses a problem that does not exist.
The push for restrictions comes as the election system remains in flux at the federal level. In May. a federal judge handed Trump a victory by declining to halt the president’s executive order creating a federal list of eligible voters and then directed the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to those on the list. Observers say the decision opens the door for potential sweeping changes in how American elections are run shortly before this year’s midterm elections.
In Los Angeles this week. the immediate question for voters is simpler than the surrounding policy fight: where to go. and what to expect when they get there. The registrar-recorder’s message was direct—646 vote centers across the county. each with multiple voting booths. and in-person voting available during scheduled hours leading into Election Day on June 2.
Los Angeles County vote centers in-person voting mail-in ballots June 2 primary Trump Lara Trump Karen Bass Nithya Raman Spencer Pratt Save America Act voter ID initiative Voter's Choice Act
So it’s not true that there are no booths? Crazy.
I feel like they just say whatever gets clicks. If there are 646 in-person places then why is he acting like LA is mail only? Also “proof of citizenship” sounds kinda scary, not gonna lie.
Wait… does “646 vote centers” mean the whole city of LA is basically booths everywhere? Or is that just the county like outside parts? I’m confused because they always talk like it’s one thing then it’s another. But yeah if it’s multiple booths then Trump’s wording is off.
This is why I hate election season. One guy says no booths, then officials are like actually yes booths, like ok?? And the Save America Act part… aren’t they already asking for ID? “Get rid of mail-in voting” also sounds like they just want fewer options for everyone. I didn’t even know LA had “vote centers,” I thought it was all automatic by mail or whatever.