Mid-City voter recalls people dying for right to vote
Los Angeles resident Rowena Williams waited three hours to vote on Tuesday afternoon at her Mid-City precinct.
But for the 70-year-old woman, voting was worth the wait at the Tom Bradley Youth & Family Center. She said she remembers the civil rights movement and how people gave their lives so that African Americans could get the right to vote in the South.
"For me, as a black woman, I remember people dying to give people the right to vote," she said. "So everyone should go out and vote, no matter who you're voting for."
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By early afternoon, about 1,600 people had visited the center, which was handling voters from two precincts, according to poll workers.
Peter Lehman, 36, a UCLA graduate student, said he waited two hours to get to the registration table. At that point, Lehman said, he decided to fill out a provisional ballot to save time.
"It was worth it," he said afterward, "but it would have been better not to wait forever."
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27% of voters in L.A. County cast ballots by noon; lower than '08
— Robert J. Lopez in Mid-City
Video: Rowena Williams at Mid-City precinct. Credit: Los Angeles TimesEDITOR'S PICKS:
