Did you vote on election day? Why or why not?

Turnout was relatively low in Southern California cities where voters cast their ballots on a range of local issues and candidates, even in scandal-plagued Bell, where 27% of registered voters came out to vote on City Council candidates.

In Los Angeles, more than 1.6 million people are registered to vote but just under 191,000 -- or 11.6% -- turned out Tuesday, according to unofficial results.

In West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Pasadena, 26%, 23% and 15% voted, respectively.

So the question we pose to you today is, did you vote?

If not, why not? Did you know Tuesday was election day? Did you forget to vote or are you just disillusioned? Do you think your vote matters?

If you did vote, why did you think it was important to do so? What issues drove you to the polls?

We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.

Photo: Samia Saleh steps out of a polling station at Epoca Restaurant & Hall after voting Tuesday in the city of Bell. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Astonished]

yes, I voted. As far as I'm concerned, if you don't vote, you have not right to complain, because you did nothing to attempt any changes.

[SuperFreedomEaglePatriotDontTreadOnMe]

I vote because it is my civic duty to do so. It is my civic duty to be informed and to care about the betterment of the city I live in. I am not from LA--I am a transplant from another area of California.

However.

I look around and I see nothing but trash and graffiti EVERYWHERE. I see sidewalks cracked and disintegrating and a severe shortage of parks and open land. I see potholes everywhere and dangerously mentally ill vangrants and bums wandering the streets with impunity. I see a planning department that doesn't really plan anything--if exceptions are the norm (I am looking at you, Geoff Palmer) then why bother? I see three-lanes-in-each-direction arterials that are basically ground level highways that are constantly jammed--yet the people have no convenient alternative (and don't even think of repealing minimum parking requirements). I see and hear of city police officers that make $100,000+ per year because they know how to game the system.

Corruption at the highest levels of city government and the inability to buck the status quo will leave this city nothing more than what it is now--a car addicted too-big-to-fail cesspool of fake boobs and dashed expectations. All glamor and no substance.

That said, I would have liked to see Measure M defeated. Oh well.

[Henry Gambill]

Yes I voted, for I try to vote in every election.

But I made a special point to vote on March 8 in order to save the Los Angeles Public library.

[Scott]

simple - if people in an area don't vote, then politicians know that that area poises no risk if ignored. and if politicians feel no democratic accountability (ie. by you voting), then they have no incentive to represent the needs of that area. do you prefer being represented or ignored? That is why not only should you care about voting, but you should be concerned to get all eligible voters to vote.

[SuperFreedomEaglePatriotDontTreadOnMe]

I vote because it is my civic duty to do so. It is my civic duty to be informed and to care about the betterment of the city I live in. I am not from LA--I am a transplant from another area of California.

However.

I look around and I see nothing but trash and graffiti EVERYWHERE. I see sidewalks cracked and disintegrating and a severe shortage of parks and open land. I see potholes everywhere and dangerously mentally ill vangrants and bums wandering the streets with impunity. I see a planning department that doesn't really plan anything--if exceptions are the norm (I am looking at you, Geoff Palmer) then why bother? I see three-lanes-in-each-direction arterials that are basically ground level highways that are constantly jammed--yet the people have no convenient alternative (and don't even think of repealing minimum parking requirements). I see and hear of city police officers that make $100,000+ per year because they know how to game the system.

Corruption at the highest levels of city government and the inability to buck the status quo will leave this city nothing more than what it is now--a car addicted too-big-to-fail cesspool of fake boobs and dashed expectations. All glamor and no substance.

That said, I would have liked to see Measure M defeated. Oh well.

[Bill]

Yes, I voted. I always do. Even though I did not receive the voter book, 100 pgs, this time, I went on line to determine the polling place and take a look at the props. I did vote for each of the Props, but not any of the school positions because I do not have children in school.

[Diane]

I voted. I always vote, I have not missed an election since I registered to vote in 2004. I am not driven to the polls by whatever issue is on the ballot, I vote because its part of the democratic process.

Most of the ballot measures on yesterdays vote were there because City Council can't seem to work together well enough to sort out governance issues which is the core of what their highly paid jobs are about.

That is a very disappointing aspect of democracy. How they shove the decisions they should make off on voters.

[Carole Raphaelle Davis--Companion Animal Protection Society]

I voted because I know it is my duty to take part in our democratic government. We are privileged to live in a country where democracy works--where we can remove corrupt leaders simply by voting, unlike Libya, Iran, Myanmar, China and North Korea, just to name a few. In those countries, people risk their lives and often die to have their voices heard.

It is a disgrace that Americans take voting this lightly.

[Lee B.]

First election I've missed in 25 years. I was extremely sick. Wish I'd voted absentee.

[Roger K. Weiss]

I voted, and although I do not live in Bell, the situation there was a key reason. Knowing that public ignorance of their local elected officials can open the door to corruption, I used this election day to re-familiarize myself with my local representatives and the key issues that are often too mundane to compete with Charlie, Lindsey, and the Kardashians for attention on newscasts.

[PuWeiTa]

Just as lawsuits are by and large decided upon jury selection, voting are by and large decided upon fund raising. $D$E$M$O$C$R$A$C$Y$

[WeHo Resident]

I voted! And am happy to see 26% of WeHo voted. Of course would have liked to see more... I always vote. It is an integral part of civic life. I felt it was important to ditch the old guard on the WeHo City Council, and at least one new face will be on board. Hurray! Also, Measure A needed to be shot down. Take your super-size billboard graphics somewhere else.

[No Vote]

No; I did NOT vote. It was NOT 'election day' in my city.

[Orville]

Because...there is nothing on this earth one person can do, that is more powerful than that simple act of casting a ballot. What we do on election day affects generations after we are long gone from this earth.

[Laura Edwards]

Yes, I did vote. It's a privilege and my obligation. I believe my vote can make a difference.

[Rocket80]

"As far as I'm concerned, if you don't vote, you have not right to complain, because you did nothing to attempt any changes."

It's actually the opposite - if you DO vote you have no right to complain, because by voting you're being complicit in, and doing nothing more than legitimizing, a failing and corrupt system. It's you, the VOTERS, who put these corrupt sleazebags in office - Opt out, don't vote, don't blindly agree to participate in a system you never consented to and we wouldn't have any of this nonsense.

So no, I did not vote.

[YeahRightYouDidNotVoteBecauseOfThat]

Well I voted because the economy is in the worst shape of its life, and here in Southern Los Angeles one single vote counts a lot. One vote here speaks for about half of the population "literally", since an extremely limited amount of people care or vote. Hopefully I voted for the better wealth of my city.

[zygion]

I've never missed an election. I feel a responsibility to vote. The main reason I voted in this election is to save our libraries.

[Shawn]

I did not vote this time.

Of the four races that were on my local ballot, two of them were uncontested. And one of those two was the only one in which I had any real strong interest (mayor and three school board positions).

Still I would have voted after work, but in the rush to get home and help my wife with our two newborns, I forgot. Oops!

[George]

Is this really true - 11.6% of the electorate vote? That's amazing. I live in Australia. Here it is compulsory to vote and if you don't, you get fined.

[Pat]

I voted because I believe it is a right and responsibility to do so.

I try to be an informed voter and want to convey my opinions in this forum. I first voted in a municipal election in 1978, which coincidentally, was my 18th birthday. I have not missed an election since.

[jw]

i always vote but i vote absentee and i never miss an election :)

[Waste of time]

After voting for a few decades, I will likely never vote in this state again. When your single vote is over-ridden by 10 idiots votes, why bother. Even when something is voted into law, these same groups of idiots choke the system with litigation and eventually get it thrown out (looking at you 187).

The percentage of people who are wholly dependent on the system, and will therefore vote and fight to maintain the status quo, outweigh those who are financing it. The fact that so many incumbents won today illuminates this as a self evident truth. At this point we might as well just do away with elections and let these people appoint their replacements if/when they ever get tired of their taxpayer funded salary and benefits.

By all means people who want reform at all levels of government, keep ramming your heads into that brick wall and expecting a different result. Anyone with a sense of fiscal responsibility and a desire to keep the government out of peoples personal lives is so vastly outnumbered, voting has been reduced to a feel good exercise which I will not waste my time on anymore.

[Astonished]

So, Rocket80, by your anology, if you don't vote, you can complain to yoyr hearts content, but, change nothing, because without voting out the "scumbags" that were voted in nothing changes . . . right? And so, if you allow the "scumbags" to term out by not voting, who takes their place and how? And by that time, how bad will be the damage of those you left there?

[eramos]

I forgot to vote and to tell you the truth they need to come up with something simpler. I do everything online; either on my computer or iphone. Why can't voting be modernized? Had it been available online I would have voted easily.