LA County voter turnout about 50 percent before polls close

Expect a long election night, the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan warns on his election Web site.

"An estimated two million voters have visited 4,394 polling places in Los Angeles County today," the Web site says, and that was at least a couple of hours before polls close at 8 p.m.

The county has about 4.2 million registered voters, but the 2 million voters from today don't include those who voted by mail or voted early Monday. Logan says that the 26,278 poll workers around the county have their hands full. From his press release:

Voter turnout today was extremely heavy and polling places are staying open until the last voter in line at 8:00 P.M. has been allowed to vote. Actual poll closings tonight may be as late as 9:00 P.M. or later. The delay in poll closing and the transportation of ballots to the central counting facility will delay the reporting of election results.

At the end of voting today the polling place staff must perform closing procedures that include counting the number of voted ballots and voter signatures signed in the roster, they must pack up voting booths, voting devices and voting supplies. Voted ballots are placed in a designated red box, secured with a special seal which is signed by the two senior poll workers. All of the polling place materials are then transported by two or more poll workers to a nearby central check-in center, typically a city hall or public building, where the individually sealed red ballot boxes are placed in a special fireproof bag for final transport to the central counting facility by the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department.

That means the numbers will come in slowly, and tomorrow's newspaper surely won't have any final results. But we'll be giving local election updates throughout the night and Wednesday, so come back to www.presstelegram.com to get the latest news.