Election turnout tumbled this year in Los Angeles County

A month after Election Day, the post-mortem punditry over what happened and what comes next continues. At the same time, there is some clarity in the data: In Los Angeles, even with a ballot highlighted by the Donald Trump–Kamala Harris presidential contest, turnout tumbled—approximately 600,000 fewer people voted than in 2020.

In L.A. County, 3,793,106 people cast a ballot. That works out to 66.1% of the 5.74 million eligible voters, according to tallies from the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. The election was certified on Tuesday.

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This turnout level represents a dramatic decline from the 2020 general election. Then, 4.34 million county voters hit the polls, representing 76% of those who were eligible.

Turnout in L.A. County is also down from other recent presidential elections, including 2008, when the candidacy of Barack Obama sparked long lines locally, as well as a record number of statewide voters.

Los Angeles is the most populous county in California, but voter participation here lags statewide totals. According to the California Secretary of State, turnout this year was at 71.4%. In 2020, 80.7% of state residents voted in the general election.

In 2008, county and statewide participation were nearly identical, but since then the region’s turnout has generally been about four to five percentage points below the overall California level.

The highest-ever percentage turnout in California was the 88.4% recorded in the 1964 general election, when Lyndon Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater.

While the participation level in Los Angeles last month is dispiriting, some counties seem to care even less. Fresno County had 63.6% turnout, and Imperial County, in the southeastern corner of the state, stood at 59.8%.

Higher turnout was recorded in some affluent northern areas, among them Napa County (78.3%), Sonoma County (82.5%) and Marin County (85.1%).

Lonely vote centers

In Los Angeles, regional vote centers, which replaced community precincts, have become an increasingly isolated place. According to the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, just under 28% of voters—about 1.06 million—cast a ballot in person.

The 72% of Angelenos who voted by mail last month is down from 80.2% in the 2022 general election, when there was no presidential contest. That ballot included Gov. Gavin Newsom’s re-election bid, and a city of Los Angeles mayoral contest between Karen Bass and Rick Caruso.

Interestingly, the percentage of people who voted by mail in the general election was slightly lower in the COVID year of 2020. That was the first time that the state of California mailed a ballot to every registered voter, allowing them to participate in person or by mail. That process is now permanent in the state.

Prior to 2020, people could cast a ballot through the post office, though they had to have registered for permanent vote-by-mail status or request a ballot. The net result was that, in L.A. County, more than half of voters hit their local polling place.

The next general election in California, to be highlighted by an open governor’s race and an L.A. mayoral contest, will be on Nov. 3, 2026.

How we did it: We analyzed voter data for general elections from 2008–2024 from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk and the California Secretary of State.

Have questions about our data or want to know more? Write to us at askus@xtown.la.