The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County has launched a campaign, “Let’s Get Every Vote In,” to encourage minority communities, including the Korean-American community, to get out and vote.
Clerk Dean C. Logan held a press conference on February 14 with minority leaders and first-time voters at the Chinatown Branch Library near Downtown LA to encourage voters in LA’s diverse communities of color and naturalized citizens to take advantage of the many available voting options and participate early in the March 2024 primary elections.
“There are 660 polling locations in the county over the next 10 days, so please come out and vote and volunteer bilingually,” said Logan, encouraging vote participation.
Logan emphasized that there are more than 660 locations to vote, including drop boxes (440 locations), early voting sites (100 locations), and regular polling places (120 locations), and that all systems will work well, including mail-in voting, which has already begun, as well as early voting sites that will be open on February 24.
Mail-in voting is currently underway and can be done without a return stamp by dropping it into any of the 440 drop boxes or regular mailboxes, according to the County Registrar.
Postal ballots are available in 18 languages upon request to minimize language barriers. For in-person voting, the monitoring system has been overhauled to make it easier to use than before, and Korean-speaking staff will be on hand to help, the registrar said.
“This election is not only about the president, but it’s also about electing local leaders,” Logan said. “Especially at the county level, where if a candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, he or she is elected without a runoff.”
“I work as a nurse in one of the hospitals here, and I call Los Angeles my home for the last 15 years. I only became a U.S. citizen a few months ago, in November 2023,” said Lovely Gomez, a first-time Filipino voter. “This year I am excited to vote for the first time in a U.S. election.”
Ian Kamus, director of the Pilipino Workers Center, said, “Asian Americans are working hard and paying taxes, but they are not getting the change they want. The opportunities and circumstances have never been better, so I encourage everyone to vote and make their voices heard.”
Logan urged Korean Americans to apply as bilingual volunteers through November at https://www.vote4la.com/PollAccess/ElectionSelect.aspx. Volunteers, who are citizens and permanent residents over the age of 18, are paid $80 for completing a training program and $100 per day once they are on the ground. There is also a $100 bonus for bilingual volunteers.
BY BRIAN CHOI [ichoi@koreadaily.com]
