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Election Day 2016 updates: Trump defeats Clinton to become next president of U.S.

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The U.S. elected its 45th president on Nov. 8.

Anti-Trump protesters hit the streets across the U.S.

Students at the University of Texas at Austin lead an anti-Trump protest down to Congress Bridge the day after the presidential election.
(Joshua Guerra / The Daily Texan via Associated Press))

Activists are not taking the idea of a Donald Trump presidency quietly. Hundreds of demonstrators across the U.S. hit the pavement during the day and evening Wednesday to protest the Republican’s electoral victory.

In Chicago:

In Philadelphia:

In Boston:

In New York:

In Seattle:

In Austin, Texas:

In Berkeley, Calif.:

In Des Moines, Iowa:

And in Los Angeles. You can read more about the California protests here.

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Measure to speed up the death penalty leads, while bid to end it fails

(Sue Ogrocki / Associated Press)

California voters on Tuesday defeated a ballot measure to repeal the state’s death penalty, and instead a proposition that aims to amend and expedite it narrowly leads.

The outcome concluded a closely watched ballot race to address what people on both sides of the debate have agreed is a broken system.

Proposition 62, which would have replaced capital punishment for murder with life in prison without parole, garnered 46.1% of the vote.

Proposition 66 intended to speed up executions by designating trial courts to hear petitions challenging death row convictions, limiting successive petitions and expanding the pool of lawyers who could take on death penalty appeals.

With all precincts reporting, it currently has the approval of 50.9% of voters, but provisional and other ballots remain to be counted.

The outcome reflects similar findings by a USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll, which found California residents, like the nation, remain very much divided on capital punishment, even as public opinion has shifted against the practice over the past 40 years.

This year, proponents of the measure to “amend not end” the death penalty system centered their campaigning efforts on emotional appeals from law enforcement and crime victims, who urged voters not do away with what they called the “last defense” against the “worst of the worst in society.”

But death penalty opponents, a diverse group of crime victims, celebrities and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, argued the system could not be fixed. They pointed to a costly appeals process, the arbitrary application of the punishment and its impact on poor and minority communities.

Times staff writer Liam Dillon contributed to this story.

FOR THE RECORD: 11:11 a.m. This story and headline has been corrected to reflect that the Associated Press has not called the race for Proposition 66.

This story was originally posted at 6:31 a.m.

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Republican Cunningham wins tight state Assembly race to hold a GOP seat

Republicans have held on to the 35th Assembly District on the central coast, with GOP candidate Jordan Cunningham defeating Democrat Dawn Ortiz-Legg, according to the Associated Press.

Cunningham led Ortiz-Legg 54.6% to 45.4% with all precincts reporting.

The two were running to replace termed-out Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian (R-San Luis Obispo), who ran for Congress but was knocked out in the June primary.

The Republicans’ 5% voter registration advantage four years ago is now at just 1.5%, with a significant number of Latino and Asian registered voters.

Times staff writer Liam Dillon contributed reporting.

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Proposition 51, the $9-billion school bond, wins

California voters have approved Proposition 51, a $9-billion bond for school construction projects across the state.

The measure was leading 53.9% to 46.1%, according to election returns at 5 a.m. Wednesday, and the Associated Press has called the victory.

State funding to help finance repairs and new school facilities across California had run dry, and Proposition 51 will refill the pot. School construction needs billions of dollars every year, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office. With the new cash infusion, the state will once again match local district funding for construction projects.

Proposition 51 had a more difficult campaign than many might have expected. Critics of the measure, notably Gov. Jerry Brown, had argued that Proposition 51 unfairly prioritized larger more, affluent areas because the state handed out the money on a first-come, first-served basis to districts that already had matching funds. And public polls in the fall showed the measure not reaching majority support among voters.

But school bonds are popular. Eighty percent of local measures pass, according to the League of California Cities, and the previous four statewide school bonds were successful as well.

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Funding to house L.A.’s homeless has strong lead

Homeless people on the street in Venice.
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Backers of a bond measure that would provide housing for many of the city’s homeless were optimistic as early ballot counts favored the measure, which needs a two-thirds majority to pass.

With 50% of precincts reporting early Wednesday morning, Measure HHH had captured 76% of the vote.

“We earned our wings tonight,” 8th District L.A. City Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson said on Tuesday night. “We completely lived up to the title City of Angels.”

Supporters of the measure, including city officials, gathered on the 30th floor of a downtown skyscraper.

“Looking good so far,” said 14th District Councilman Jose Huizar. “It reflects all we had seen in our polling and talking to people. I think it looks excellent.”

The measure asked Los Angeles city voters to approve general obligation bonds that would raise money to build housing for chronically homeless people. The city would borrow up to $1.2 billion over 10 years for construction projects to provide “safe, clean, affordable housing for the homeless and for those in danger of becoming homeless.”

The average annual cost over the 29 years the bonds are being repaid would be $9.64 per $100,000 of assessed valuation. That would be $32.87 on a home valued at the median of $341,000.

The measure would not nearly move all the city’s homeless into housing, but supporters have argued that it is an important early step.

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Assemblywoman Catharine Baker, one of most targeted Republicans of the Legislature, keeps her seat

Assemblywoman Catharine Baker
( (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press))

Assemblywoman Catharine Baker (R-Dublin) has held on to her seat in a closely watched race against Democrat Cheryl Cook-Kallio in the East Bay.

With nearly 95% of precincts reporting, Baker was leading, 56%-44%, against Cook-Kallio.

Early in the campaign, Baker, who is a social moderate and fiscal conservative, was identified as one of Assembly Democrats’ top Republican targets to pick off on their quest for a Democratic super-majority.

Cook-Kallio, a former Pleasanton City Council member, was one of four California legislative candidates endorsed by President Obama.

The contest was one of the most expensive legislative races this election cycle, with party spending on both sides nearing $2.8 million and independent expenditures just under $2 million in the final days of the campaign.

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Protests erupt across California after Trump wins: ‘Not my president’

The election of Donald Trump to the presidency sparked protests early Wednesday across California, with many demonstrations concentrated around college campuses.

Shortly after Trump delivered a victory speech in New York City, a crowd at the UC Santa Barbara marched near the campus, with some chanting, “Not my president. Not my president.”

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Assemblyman David Hadley, one of the most targeted Republicans in California, is in for a long night

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Assemblyman David Hadley (R-Manhattan Beach) was in a car on his way home early Wednesday morning after an election night party in Redondo Beach.

With 42% of precincts reporting, Hadley was lagging behind challenger Al Muratsuchi, 53% to 47%.

But the race is still close to call and both candidates will likely have to wait until later Wednesday, or perhaps even later, to know whether Hadley will keep his seat.

“I have vague memories of refreshing my browser at 2:30 and 3:00 in the morning in 2014,” Hadley said. “I have a sneaking suspicion I’ll be doing that again tonight.”

Democrats had hoped to turn Hadley’s L.A. County coastal district blue as part of a strategy to regain a super-majority in the Assembly. As of early Wednesday morning, nearly all of those key targets Democrats had hoped to win were too close to call -- including Assembly District 65, where Assemblywoman Young Kim (R-Diamond Bar) and Democrat Sharon Quirk-Silva were separated by 1%.

“We’re still watching and we’ll see how we do,” Hadley said of his race, noting that the 2014 results showed he fared much better in certain parts of the district than others. “We just want to see more precincts in first.”

Assembly Democrats had tried to tie Hadley to Donald Trump during the campaign, despite the fact that he had said he would not vote for the Republican nominee.

On Friday, Hadley revealed that he had cast a ballot for Gary Johnson for president, saying Johnson “appeared to be the third-party nominee with the best chance of showing dissatisfaction with the two major party nominees.”

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Legislature will have to pass bills under new transparency rules set by Proposition 54

California voters have approved a significant change of the rules in how proposed laws are approved by the Legislature, overwhelmingly supporting a new mandate for public review of legislation before any final vote.

Proposition 54, which will impose a three-day waiting period before lawmakers can take action on the final version of bills, appeared headed for an easy victory on election night. As of early Wednesday, it was winning with 64% of the vote.

The change in legislative rules was long discussed in the state Capitol but failed to gain momentum until the initiative written by a former GOP legislator and bankrolled by a wealthy Bay Area activist.

In addition to the three-day delay for public review of most bills, Proposition 54 will also impose new rules requiring that video of legislative hearings and debates be posted online. It also removes a ban on using video from legislative proceedings in campaign commercials.

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Rep. Grace Napolitano wins 10th term, defeating scandal-plagued Roger Hernandez

Democratic Rep. Grace F. Napolitano won her bid for a 10th term in Congress, after a campaign that saw her opponent, state Assemblyman Roger Hernendez (D-West Covina), effectively end his campaign in August after a judge granted his ex-wife’s request for a domestic-violence restraining order against him.

The Associated Press called the race with Napolitano claiming 63.1% of the vote to Hernandez’s 36.9%.

Baldwin Park City Councilwoman Susan Rubio gave graphic testimony detailing abuse she said she suffered during her relationship with Hernandez.

Hernandez faced a swift political backlash after the restraining order was issued, including the loss of several endorsements as well as all of his committee assignments in the Assembly.

He called it quits after returning to the Legislature from medical leave.

Hernandez had long odds even before news of the accusations broke, and he relied largely on attacking Napolitano for not living in the 32nd Congressional District.

Napolitano suffered a stroke in February but vowed to keep campaigning for a 10th term, saying that “my ability to do my job is not at risk.”

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Burbank airport terminal replacement measure has wide lead in early returns

(Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times)

A measure to allow the replacement of the aging, cramped and seismically deficient Hollywood Burbank airport was dominating in early voting results Tuesday.

With 31% of the precincts reporting, 72% of voters backed Measure B.

If approved by a majority of voters, Measure B will permit the construction of a 14-gate replacement terminal at what was formerly known as Bob Hope Airport in a plan supported by both airport officials and a majority of the Burbank City Council.

Opened 86 years ago, the Burbank airport terminal is considered outdated and obsolete, so close to the runway it does not meet federal safety standards. It also is vulnerable to heavy damage in a major earthquake.

Airport and Burbank city officials have openly feuded about the terminal’s future for decades, and this agreement would finally pave the way for a replacement.

A rejection of Measure B would likely result in an ongoing legal battle between the airport and the city, and the airport authority could attempt to build a terminal of the same size in a less favorable area, one that would force the demolition and replacement of the general aviation terminal.

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Putin sends Trump a congratulatory telegram

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Lead increases for tax hike to expand L.A. Metro mass transit

An ambitious measure to dramatically expand Los Angeles County’s mass transit system widened its lead Wednesday morning as election officials counted ballots into the wee hours of the night.

With 46% of the precincts reporting, 68.82% of voters gave a thumbs-up to Measure M, as of about 12:45 a.m. Wednesday. That’s above the 66.67% threshold it needs to win.

On Tuesday night, Measure M backers were optimistic they would pull off a win.

“I’m superstitious. I don’t ever declare victory until the end,” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. But, he added, early results looked “very promising.”

Metropolitan Transportation Authority board member Jackie Dupont-Walker, the agency’s only voting director who is not an elected official, said she was hopeful that the measure would pass.

“I’m feeling good,” she said, adding that she had spent the last few days crisscrossing the county, talking to transit riders along the Expo Line and the Silver Line busway.

Garcetti also spoke optimistically about Measure HHH, an ambitious measure to tackle the homeless problem in Los Angeles.

“People said here, solve the problems that we face every day,” Garcetti said, referring to both Measure M and Measure HHH, the proposed $1.2-billion bond to build housing for L.A.’s homeless. “That’s a very strong message coming from Los Angeles and coming from the West Coast.”

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Bay Area soda taxes headed to victory

(Frederic J. Brown / AFP/ Getty Images)

Soda tax measures were headed to victory in Bay Area cities in early returns.

The measures, on the ballot in San Francisco, Oakland, and the East Bay suburb of Albany, would place a penny-per-ounce tax on sodas and other sugar beverages. The measures require a majority vote to pass.

In San Francisco, Proposition V was ahead 62% to 38%, with all precincts reporting. Oakland’s Measure HH had an identical tally, with 62% backing the measure, with 85% of the precincts reporting. And in Albany, 71% of voters were backing Measure O1, with all precincts reporting.

A study published in August reported that after Berkeley’s first-in-the-nation soda tax, Measure D, passed in 2014, lower-income residents reduced their consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages by 21% compared with the pretax days.

Opponents, led by the American Beverage Assn., have called the measures an “unfair grocery tax.”

Soda taxes proposed in El Monte and Richmond in 2012 failed by wide margins.

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L.A. measures to revise rules for utility and police pensions too close to call

A measure to revise the oversight and operations of Los Angeles’ city-owned water and power utility slipped behind in returns late Tuesday night.

Edging into positive territory was a measure that would allow airport police officers to join the pension plan of other city police officers and firefighters.

With 25% of precincts reporting, Measure RRR, to reform the Department of Water and Power, was opposed by 50.9% of voters. The total includes a partial count of mail-in ballots.

Measure RRR is a long and detailed, but not sweeping, set of changes to the utility. Supporters say it would give the DWP more independence in a way that would make the municipally owned utility “more accountable, transparent and responsive,” as described in the city’s official ballot argument.

Backers were concerned about the possible impact of a disclosure days before the election. It came to light that the measure would allow Fred Pickel, the executive director of the city’s Office of Public Accountability, to be appointed to a second five-year term in his $276,000-a-year job as watchdog over the DWP. It also would double the minimum budget of his small department.

Pickel was responsible for submitting the wording of the ballot summary for voters and did not include these details.

Measure backers say it’s important to boost Pickel’s budget to ensure his independence and insulate him from political meddling.

The measure is endorsed by Mayor Eric Garcetti, the City Council and DWP management, who hope it will streamline operations at the roughly $4-billion-per-year department that keeps the lights on and faucets flowing for millions.

Opponents agree that the DWP, which has been plagued by controversy, needs reform. But they argue the ballot measure would be a step backward, allowing elected officials to avoid responsibility for missteps by the department and DWP managers.

Measure SSS sought to consolidate the pension systems of two police forces serving Los Angeles, and it was narrowly ahead.

It would move new hires at the L.A. Airport Police Division into the same pension plan as other police and fire department employees in the city. It also would allow current airport officers, about 500 in all, to buy their way into this pension fund. Currently, airport police are part of the city’s general pension system for municipal workers.

With 25% of precincts reporting, 50.2% of voters cast ballots in favor of the measure. The total also included a partial count of mail-in ballots.

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Longtime Silicon Valley Rep. Mike Honda loses seat to fellow Democrat in bitter rematch battle

Fremont Democrat Ro Khanna has defeated eight-term Rep. Mike Honda (D-San Jose) in their bitter, intra-party matchup in Silicon Valley.

Honda, a longtime progressive voice in the Bay Area, was believed to be one of California’s most vulnerable congressional incumbents after he received fewer votes than his challenger in June’s primary.

Khanna, who also challenged Honda in 2014, argued that Silicon Valley voters needed a change in leadership.

An ongoing ethics investigation into whether Honda had improperly used his official resources for political purposes, as well as the loss of key endorsements like President Obama’s, clouded Honda’s campaign.

The race quickly became California’s most expensive congressional campaigns and had grown increasingly nasty, with Honda filing a lawsuit in the final weeks of the race, alleging that Khanna’s campaign manager had illegally accessed proprietary campaign data.

A spokesman for Honda’s campaign declined to comment, saying the campaign would be releasing a later statement Wednesday.

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Trump’s first address as president-elect is a call for unity after a divisive campaign

After waging a fiercely divisive campaign that ultimately netted him the White House, Donald Trump called for unifying Americans early Wednesday.

“Now it’s time for America to bind the wounds of division,” he told cheering supporters at a Manhattan hotel.

“To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people. It’s time. I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans.”

Trump said he received a call from Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton conceding the race and congratulating him on his win.

He said he, in turn, told her she had fought hard, and in his speech, he only praised the former rival he regularly referred to as “Crooked Hillary” on the campaign trail.

“Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time, and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for service to the country,” Trump said. “I mean that very sincerely.”

In his 15-minute speech, Trump said he planned to focus on growing the nation’s economy, embarking on infrastructure projects that would put millions of Americans to work and caring for the nation’s veterans. There was no mention of mainstays of his campaign rhetoric, such as building a wall along the southern border and making Mexico pay for it or ripping up trade deals.

Instead, he pledged to work with other nations.

“We will seek common ground, not hostility. Partnership, not conflict,” Trump said.

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Measure to restrict Santa Monica development trails in early returns

A new mixed-use hotel, cultural, retail and residential development is slated at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Ocean Avenue.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

An initiative in Santa Monica that would create one of the strictest slow-growth measures in the region is trailing in early returns.

If passed, Measure LV would require voter approval for most development projects taller than 32 to 36 feet. That threshold would cover many new apartment and condo developments, as well as office and retail projects.

Without the growth limits Measure LV would impose, backers say more developers will tear down existing housing and build even more luxury developments that could price out Santa Monica’s renters.

Pro-growth groups, meanwhile, argue more development is needed to address the region’s soaring rents and shortage of housing units.

With 9% of the precincts reporting, Measure LV is trailing, with 55.72% of the voters opposed.

The growth limit measure comes as more developers seek to take advantage of the new Expo Line and the city’s bustling downtown area. Urban planners are increasingly favoring this kind of multi-use development to foster walkable neighborhoods and encourage residents to ride bikes or take mass transit rather than drive.

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Early lead for Bay Area transit measures backing BART renovation and extension to San Jose

(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

Bay Area measures that seek to restore BART and extend the commuter rail system to downtown San Jose were ahead Tuesday in early returns, both of which require a two-thirds vote to pass.

In Santa Clara County, Measure B asked voters to raise the sales tax by half a cent for every dollar spent to fund a host of freeway and transit improvements, including funding to bring BART to downtown San Jose, raising more than $6 billion over the next three decades. Measure B was garnering 71% support with an estimated 44% of the ballots counted.

Voters in San Francisco, Alameda and Contra Costa counties were deciding the fate of Measure RR, a $3.5-billion bond measure to rebuild the core systems of the aging electric train service, which has been plagued with ancient, faulty power systems and water leaks that have weakened steel rails so much they crack during the commute. With 76% of the precincts reporting, Measure RR was garnering 70% of the vote.

In San Francisco, voters were considering Propositions J and K, which would increase the sales tax rate by three-quarters of a penny for every dollar spent and set aside about $100 million a year to pay for repairs, upgrades and infrastructure improvements to Muni and about $50 million to provide services to the homeless. Those measures require a majority of votes to pass.

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Trump won. Tell us how you’re feeling

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Democrat Lou Correa elected Orange County’s next congressman

Former state Sen. Lou Correa, left, and Garden Grove Mayor Bao Nguyen.
(Don Kelsen / Los Angeles Times; Courtney Lindberg)

Lou Correa will be Orange County’s newest congressman, the AP projects. Correa prevailed in his fight against fellow Democrat, Garden Grove Mayor Bao Nguyen, in his race to replace Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Orange) in the 46th Congressional District.

As of midnight Wednesday, Correa was leading by a wide 70-30 margin, with 48% of precincts reporting.

Correa, a veteran politician who has represented the area in the state Senate and Assembly, lost narrowly in a 2014 bid for a seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

High Vietnamese American turnout was a key factor in that race and was expected to help Nguyen, who fled Vietnam with his parents as a baby.

Nguyen eked out a surprise victory in the June primary, marking the first time Republicans have been shut out of a congressional race in Orange County.

The race was expected to be a test of the ethnic loyalties of the diverse district’s Vietnamese and Latino voting blocs.

Correa had earned the endorsement of Sanchez and many other establishment Democrats, while Nguyen said he was relying on a grass-roots strategy and appealing to millennials and supporters of Bernie Sanders, who carried the district in the June primary.

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Democrat Salud Carbajal defeats Justin Fareed in race for open Central Coast House seat

Democratic Santa Barbara County Supervisor Salud Carbajal won an expensive race against Republican Justin Fareed to replace outgoing Democratic Congresswoman Lois Capps in the Central Coast.

The Associated Press called the race late Tuesday with Carbajal leading with 55.2% of the vote to Fareed’s 44.8%.

The two survived a crowded primary contest and fought a bitter battle through the fall with Carbajal spending $2.5 million while Fareed dropped $1.8 million for his effort.

Though Democrats have a large eight-percentage point advantage in the district, outside Republican groups swept in to attack Carbajal, hoping that Fareed — a 28-year-old former House staffer and strong fundraiser — could find success with his outsider status.

Carbajal and a Democratic super PAC launched a series of ads on television attacking Fareed for comments he made supporting Donald Trump, causing headaches for Fareed’s campaign, which later tried to argue that he never really endorsed Trump.

Carbajal had the support of Capps and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, while Fareed had the backing of House Speaker Paul D. Ryan.

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Twitter reacts to the reality of President-elect Trump

In keeping with the volatile emotions of the evening, Twitter is continuing to churn out reactions to election results that have confirmed Donald Trump as President-elect.

The tweets take two decidedly different tones, with some feeling as though the election results suggest something abysmal.

Even Captain America was bummed.

Of course, where some Twitter users saw rain, others saw a rainbow and their reactions were as exuberant as could be expected.

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Hillary Clinton concedes defeat in private call to Donald Trump

(Drew Angerer / Getty Images)

Hillary Clinton has conceded defeat to Donald J. Trump, ending her quest to make history as the nation’s first female president.

Clinton did not speak publicly, as Tuesday night turned to early Wednesday morning on the East Coast. But as Trump addressed his supporters, the president-elect announced he had spoken with his former rival.

“She congratulated us,” Trump said, “and I congratulated her and her family on a very, very hard-fought campaign.”

“We owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country,” he added.

The former secretary of state, like many in her party, entered election day confident in a victory that would have ensured Democrats retained the White House for a third consecutive term.

But Trump, the real estate magnate turned reality television star, demonstrated unexpected strength in Rust Belt states that had been the foundation of President Obama’s two victories.

The White House did not comment on whether Obama would also call Trump.

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Mike Pence: ‘This is a historic night’

(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Vice President-elect Mike Pence thanked the American people for “placing their confidence” in him and President-elect Donald Trump, capping off an upset victory in Tuesday’s election.

“This is a historic night; the American people have spoken,” Pence said. “America has elected a new president.”

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Proposition 56, a $2-per-pack boost to tobacco taxes, is approved by voters

After voters twice turned back attempts to raise the state’s tobacco tax over the last decade, California looks poised to pass Proposition 56, which would increase the cigarette tax by $2 per pack.

Proposition 56 leads 62.4% to 37.6% in late returns, according to the secretary of state’s office.

“Smoking is the number one cause of avoidable death in the state of California,” said Democratic donor Tom Steyer, who was the co-chairman of the Proposition 56 campaign. “We had a broader coalition to support the idea of pushing back against the tobacco companies and raising the cigarette tax than ever before. We believe that that kind of broad coalition works against organized and concentrated economic interests when we stick together and when we all turn out and vote.”

The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates that Proposition 56 could raise at least $1.3 billion a year, with most of the money going toward the state’s Medi-Cal health care program for low-income residents.

The campaign was one of the most expensive in the state this year, with tobacco companies pouring in more than $70 million to fight the tax hike. In television advertisements, the companies criticized the measure as a payoff to the health care industry, which financed much of the Yes on 56 campaign.

But in contrast to failed efforts to raise the tobacco tax in 2006 and 2012, proponents of the tax hike were able to raise significantly more funds to promote Proposition 56.

Currently, California’s cigarette tax is $0.87 per pack, which ranks 37th in the country, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, and it hasn’t been raised in almost 20 years. Along with cigarettes, other tobacco products including smokeless tobacco and cigars will see a corresponding tax increase. And for the first time, the growing e-cigarette industry will need to pay tobacco taxes.

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Barger holds early lead in 5th District supervisor race for northern L.A. County

Darrell Park and Kathryn Barger are running to replace L.A. County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, who is being termed out of office.
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

Kathryn Barger held a solid early lead in the race to replace Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, who represents northern Los Angeles County.

With 28% of precincts reporting, Barger claimed 62% of the vote, while her opponent, Darrell Park, received 38%. The total includes a partial count of mail-in ballots.

Barger, a moderate Republican, is Antonovich’s longtime chief of staff, and started working for Antonovich as an intern 28 years ago. She also has the backing of four of the county’s five supervisors and of powerful labor groups, including the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

Her opponent, Park, has campaigned heavily on his Democratic Party affiliation. Park is a green energy entrepreneur and former staffer in the White House Office of Management and Budget under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Antonovich, a Republican who has held his seat on the Board of Supervisors since 1980, is being forced out by term limits that were approved by voters in 2002. He is seeking election to the state Senate.

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At New Beverly Cinema, dozens hide out to escape political reality

“This seemed like a good way to hide out in a dark hole and await the apocalypse,” Connor Weber reasoned, standing below the the theater marquee.

The 28-year-old took a drag on his cigarette. He was one of a few dozen who had shown up at the New Beverly Cinema on Tuesday night to escape the chaos of election night, paying $8 for a double bill of “Shampoo” and “The Candidate.” Like most at the theater, he had an ‘I Voted’ sticker still affixed to his shirt; he said he had gone to the polls to write his own name in the presidential candidate slot. “I’m pretty politically disillusioned,” he said with a sigh.

About 120 people — mostly men — came to the Quentin Tarantino-run venue on Tuesday. Mike Schlereth, a 33-year-old from North Carolina who voted for Hillary Clinton, thought it seemed like a good alternative to watching the news. Still, he was distressed by how close the race between Clinton and Donald Trump was at 9:45 p.m., when there was a brief break between the two films. “It’s a little worrying,” he said. “I’m gonna try to turn my phone off.”

Nearby, a group of three friends who described the theater as their church lamented how well Trump was doing. “Jesus,” 34-year-old Christopher Stefanic said, shaking his head. “I’d rather relate to the stories that were presented when America was great.”

“Yeah, if the election doesn’t go the way I want, at least I can get some entertainment out of it,” agreed his buddy, Jeremy Warner, also 34. They were both wearing buttons that had been handed out at the screening with pictures of Robert Redford on them. “I Voted for ‘The Candidate,’ ” the pins read. “New Bev 2016.” Inside the lobby, employees had affixed a handwritten list of updated results to the popcorn machine. Those who purchased concessions were also encouraged to tip by putting their spare change into glasses for Clinton, Trump or Redford.

Bill Steele, 52, had intended on coming to the screenings to stave off his anxiety. But he found himself distracted during “Shampoo.”

“For about an hour, I was able to escape the anxiety, because it’s a great film,” he said. “But really we’re just pushing off the inevitable.”

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O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do ahead of Michele Martinez in contentious race

Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do is facing challenger Michele Martinez, a Santa Ana councilwoman, for his 1st District seat.
Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do is facing challenger Michele Martinez, a Santa Ana councilwoman, for his 1st District seat.
(Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

Incumbent Andrew Do has an early lead over challenger Michele Martinez in the race to be the Orange County supervisor for the 1st District, with 56% of the precincts reporting and Do leading with 56.4% of the votes.

The contentious race is likely to come down to the district’s respective turnout in its large Vietnamese-American and Latino communities. The two emerged as the top vote-getters in a heated June primary race, with Do winning 38% of the vote and Martinez 34%, according to the final tally.

If Martinez wins, she would be the only Democrat on an otherwise all-Republican board. A Santa Ana councilwoman, she is trying to become the first person from her city to represent the 1st District on the Board of Supervisors.

Experts say the competition between Do and Martinez reflects the changing demographics of central Orange County, where candidates must look well beyond traditionally white voters to win — and where they increasingly have to leverage their cultural connections to many of the residents they seek to represent.

Countywide, the 1st District is the most liberal district, with Democrats boasting a 13-percentage-point lead over Republicans in voter registration, according to the Registrar of Voters.

The district spans Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Westminster and parts of Fountain Valley, and it includes 209,000 registered voters, according to Political Data Inc. Among them, 43% are registered Democrats and 30% are Republicans; 37% of the voters are Latinos and 25% are of Vietnamese descent.

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Donald Trump is projected to be the nation’s 45th president in a stunning upset

(Butch Comegys / Associated Press )

Donald Trump shocked the political establishment Tuesday, triumphing over not just Hillary Clinton but large parts of his own party’s hierarchy, to be projected the winner of the presidency in one of the biggest upsets in U.S. political history.

Trump’s victory, which defied most preelection polls and the opinions of the nation’s foreign policy, financial and cultural elites, resulted from a massive outpouring of votes in rural areas and small towns across the country, overturning Democratic calculations that their dominance of urban America would seal their victory.

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Measures to increase fire patrols in the Hollywood Hills and Santa Monica mountains leading in early returns

Two tax measures that would enable more ranger and fire patrols in increasingly popular areas along the Hollywood Hills and Santa Monica mountains is leading in early voting results.

Measure FF calls for an annual $15 tax on developed parcels of land that are within a special hillside district covering parts of Woodland Hills, Encino and Tarzana. Measure GG would impose a $35 tax on similar parcels west of Griffith Park but east of the 405 Freeway. Only voters in these districts saw these two measures on their ballots.

Both measures require a two-thirds vote to pass.

With 7% of the precincts reporting, Measure FF is leading, with 75.44% of voters in support. Measure GG is similarly leading, with 8% of precincts reporting and 81.26% backing the initiative.

It is important to beef up ranger and fire patrols in these areas, such as the seven-mile unpaved section of Mulholland, park officials said. Visitors to these quiet, mostly residential areas have increased because of apps such as Waze and social media photos that have made these off-beaten paths more widely known, they said. The chances of car exhaust sparks or a carelessly tossed cigarette in these under-patrolled, tinder-dry areas have become an increasing concern.

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L.A.’s Measure SSS, which would consolidate police pension systems, narrowly trails in early returns

Los Angeles Airport Police officers meet in front of American Airlines check-in line at Terminal 4 at LAX.
Los Angeles Airport Police officers meet in front of American Airlines check-in line at Terminal 4 at LAX.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

A measure to consolidate the pension systems of two police forces serving Los Angeles was trailing narrowly in early returns Tuesday night.

Measure SSS would move new hires at the L.A. Airport Police Department into the same pension plan as other police and fire department employees in the city. It also would allow current airport officers, about 500 in all, to buy their way into this pension fund. Currently, airport police are part of the city’s general pension system for municipal workers.

With 13% of precincts reporting, 50.2% of voters cast ballots against the measure. The total also included a partial count of mail-in ballots.

If this measure passes, eventually all the police officers in the city’s three separate police departments — LAPD, the L.A. Port Police and the airport officers — would be members of the same pension fund, receiving comparable retirement benefits. They are already paid on the same salary scale.

Critics pointed out that the police and fire system allows for retirement at 50 and other more-generous pension terms. Moving the airport employees into it would increase the financial burdens on an already strained system.

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Yorba Linda water board incumbents who backed rate hike losing badly in recall election

(Christina House / For The Times)

Water board members in a northern Orange County suburb who backed a water rate hike in the midst of intense drought were trailing badly in a recall election.

The Yorba Linda Water District’s board attracted the ire of the Yorba Linda Taxpayers Assn. when the district unanimously raised bills by $25 a month. The battle has transformed the sleepy suburb into a cautionary case study for other California water suppliers coping with a decrease in water sales during drought.

With 36% of the precincts reporting, all three incumbents seeking to stay on the five-member Yorba Linda Water District were losing. About 70% of voters voted to recall two board members, Gary Melton and Robert Kiley.

And the board’s president, Ric Collett, appeared to be losing his bid for reelection, coming in last place in a field of four candidates, where only the top two finishers would secure a new term on the board.

A fourth incumbent board member, Michael Beverage, said he would not seek another term. The vacant seat is up for grabs between a candidate aligned with the incumbents and a challenger angry at the rate hike.

The Yorba Linda Taxpayers Assn. is backing a slate of four candidates: Al Nederhood and Brooke Jones to replace the board members targeted by the recall, and Benjamin Parker and John Miller for the open seats.

Nederhood and Jones were leading in their races to replace the incumbents, garnering 51% and 72% of the vote so far, respectively, against candidates who are allied with the board incumbents.

For the two open seats, the leaders in that race were Miller, backed by the tax association, and Hall, aligned with the board incumbents. If the results hold up, the outcome would give the tax association-backed candidates a 3-to-2 majority.

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Some supporters hold out hope after Hillary Clinton declines to concede

Hillary Clinton supporters.
(Aaron P. Bernstein / AFP/Getty Images)

The 2000 recount that ended in Al Gore’s defeat is a painful memory for Democrats, but some at Hillary Clinton’s election night party found comfort in the thought after she declined to concede early Wednesday.

“That’s the right thing to do,” said Judy Aronson, 56, of Tenafly, N.J. “It’s so close in every single state.”

She added, “Hopefully it won’t take six weeks like it did in 2000.”

Her husband Mark, also 56, agreed.

“We lived through 2000 where they called states and reversed states,” he said. “We’ve been there before.”

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Where some of California’s competitive House races stand

As the votes began to come in Tuesday night, Rep. Steve Knight of Lancaster opened up a nearly 10-point lead on Democrat Byran Caforio in a seat Democrats were eager to take from Republicans.

Democratic Santa Barbara County Supervisor Salud Carbajal was leading Republican former House aide Justin Fareed in the race to replace Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara).

And the race to replace Rep. Janice Hahn (D-San Pedro) was tight after a bitter campaign between fellow Democrats state Sen. Isadore Hall (D-Compton) and former Hermosa Beach City Council member Nanette Barragán.

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California’s new senator has a message for potential President Donald Trump

Kamala Harris takes the stage at her election night party Tuesday night in downtown Los Angeles hours after winning California's U.S. Senate election.
(Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

California’s newly elected U.S. senator, Kamala Harris, gave a defiant victory speech Tuesday night aimed at Donald Trump, who appears to be inching toward victory.

Flanked by family and friends on stage at her election night celebration in a downtown L.A. dance club, Harris vowed to fight for gun control, abortion rights and worker rights, and to address climate change and the Black Lives Matter movement.

“Whatever the results of the presidential election tonight, we know that we have a task in front of us. We know the stakes are high,” Harris told a cheering crowd inside Exchange LA. “When we have been attacked and when our ideals and fundamental ideals are being attacked, do we retreat or do we fight? I say we fight!”

Harris also praised rival Rep. Loretta Sanchez and her own parents, saying they prove the American dream is still in reach.

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L.A.’s Measure RRR, on reforming DWP, holds narrow lead

Early vote totals gave a slim lead to Los Angeles’ Measure RRR, which would revise oversight and operations of the city’s water and power utility.

With 8% of precincts reporting, the measure was supported by 50.5% of voters. The total includes a partial count of mail-in ballots.

Measure RRR is a long and detailed, but not sweeping, revision to the operation and oversight of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

Supporters say the measure would give the DWP more independence in a way that would make the municipally owned utility “more accountable, transparent and responsive,” as described in the city’s official ballot argument.

Backers were concerned about the possible impact of a disclosure days before the election. It came to light that the measure would allow Fred Pickel, the executive director of the city’s Office of Public Accountability, to be appointed to a second five-year term in his $276,000-a-year job as watchdog over the DWP. It also would double the minimum budget of his small department.

Pickel was responsible for submitting the wording of the ballot summary for voters and did not include these details.

Measure backers say it’s important to boost Pickel’s budget to ensure his independence and insulate him from political meddling.

The measure is endorsed by Mayor Eric Garcetti, the City Council and DWP management, who hope it will streamline operations at the roughly $4-billion-per-year department that keeps the lights on and faucets flowing for millions.

Opponents agree that the DWP, which has been plagued by controversy, needs reform. But they argue the ballot measure would be a step backward, allowing elected officials to avoid responsibility for missteps by the department and DWP managers.

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Rep. Loretta Sanchez on the outcome of the U.S. Senate race: ‘I don’t believe that yet’

U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Orange), hugs supporters at her election night party.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Rep. Loretta Sanchez was smiling and seemed upbeat as she greeted supporters in Santa Ana on Tuesday, hours after the Associated Press had called the U.S. Senate race for her opponent, Kamala Harris.

Despite the projections, Sanchez said, she would not concede the race yet.

“Actually, the Associated Press already said that my opponent has won,” Sanchez told the crowd, gathered in a campaign office-turned-party venue. “But I don’t believe that. I don’t believe that yet.”

Sanchez thanked her supporters, friends and family for their efforts and for getting voters engaged in the campaign.

“We jumped in this race to give the people of California a choice,” Sanchez told them. “Even if we don’t make it over the line tonight ... never underestimate Loretta Sanchez.”

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Hillary Clinton won’t concede tonight

Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman said early Wednesday in New York that she would not concede the presidential race yet.

“It’s been a long night, and it’s been a long campaign, but we can wait a little longer, can’t we?” top aide John Podesta said to a dispirited crowd at the Javits Center.

“They’re still counting votes, and every vote should count. Several states are too close to call, so we’re not going to have anything more to say tonight.”

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Hillary Clinton gets 71% of the vote in Los Angeles

Los Angeles voters heavily favored Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race.

According to exit polls, 71% of Angelenos who cast ballots chose Clinton, compared with just 24% who said they voted for Trump.

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Need an election night refresher, America? We’ll catch you up

The Times’ Christina Bellantoni and Anthony Pesce tell you what’s happened nationally and in California on election day.

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California voters approve gun control measure Proposition 63

Store managers Jamie Taflinger, left, and Kendyll Murray show customer Cornell Hall, of Highland, different types of ammo at the Get Loaded gun store in Grand Terrace.
Store managers Jamie Taflinger, left, and Kendyll Murray show customer Cornell Hall, of Highland, different types of ammo at the Get Loaded gun store in Grand Terrace.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Following a year marked by a series of mass shootings, voters on Tuesday approved Proposition 63, which toughens California’s already strict gun control laws.

The initiative outlaws the possession of ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds, requires background checks for people buying bullets, makes it a crime not to report lost or stolen guns, and provides a process for taking guns from people upon their conviction for a felony.

The measure was proposed by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who late Tuesday called the vote “historic progress to reduce gun violence.”

“It was a repudiation of the National Rifle Assn. and the gun lobby. They lost badly,” Newsom said in an interview. “It’s a very important initiative because I think it’s the beginning of a national debate on relinquishment (by felons) and ammunition background checks that will I think will have a very significant impact on reducing gun violence in this country.”

During the campaign, Newsom argued more laws are needed to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and terrorists following a series of mass shootings in the United States.

Tuesday’s vote came nearly a year after two terrorists killed 14 people in San Bernardino. The Proposition 63 campaign ads also cited a mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub that killed 49 people in June and the 2012 massacre that left 20 children and several educators dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

The opposition, which includes the National Rifle Assn., argued it would create a burden on gun owners but that criminals will find a way to get around the new law.

Opponents also said Newsom was using the ballot measure to raise his profile ahead of his campaign for governor in 2018.

“Prop. 63 is another attempt by Newsom and his 1%, elitist friends to attack law-abiding Californians,” said Craig DeLuz, a spokesman for the Stop Prop 63 Committee. “They want to replace the ‘War on Drugs’ with ‘The War on law-abiding gun owners’ so they can continue locking up young black and Latino men.”

With the NRA focusing more of its resources in other states where gun control had more opposition, the campaign against Proposition 63 was outspent. Supporters raised close to $4.5 million, while opponents were able to raise about $868,000.

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“Millions” fear their liberties will be threatened under a Trump administration, McMullin warns

The people filed out of here, heads shaking a bit. A couple posed next to a sign that said “Decision 2016” and had their selfies snapped - thumbs turned downward.

Their man had lost – not the whole election – but the state of Utah.

Evan McMullin’s bid for the presidency was always a long-shot. He wasn’t even on the ballot on all 50 states. And yet, the believers waved flags, hugged each other as they said their goodbyes and clung to the only thing they had left – that they stood on their principles.

McMullin said as much when he spoke for about 10 minutes – well past 10 p.m. when many of the families who had come to watch saw their sleepy kids curl up on the floor or snooze in cribs – and told them Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton would never be for them.

But Trump drew most of McMullin’s fire.

“We are all human beings created equal,” he said. “We all have liberty to pursue happiness in the way we want.

“But tonight there are millions of Americans, I’m sad to say, who are in fear that their liberties will be challenged and threatened under a Trump Administration that has made a campaign of targeting people based on their race, their religion and gender. This is why a new conservative movement is necessary.”

At one point a voice in the crowd shouted out “2020” and McMullin laughed it off and pivoted to the theme he’s been hammering home in recent days – the continuation of the movement.

It’s unclear what that movement is, but McMullin told the crowd that “the Republican Party can no longer be considered the home of conservatives” and said “we are not going away.”

But for the night, at least, when McMulliln exited the stage, the night wasn’t theirs. Not even in Utah.

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Asian markets slump in reaction to Trump gains

A Chinese man reacts near a board showing the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index at a brokerage in Beijing, China, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2016.
(Ng Han Guan/Associated Press)

Asian markets nosedived on Tuesday as Donald Trump won key states in the U.S. election and appeared headed toward the presidency.

Shares dropped in every market throughout the region, with Japan’s Nikkei index plunging as much as 5.3% by mid-afternoon. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell to 2.6%, while the Korea Stock Exchange dropped 2.9%.

The numbers reflected rattled markets and uncertain investors worldwide, as swing states started flashing red by the late morning. A Trump victory would mark the second political hit to financial markets since the Brexit vote in late June.

One stock benefited. Wisesoft, a Chinese stock whose name “Chuan Da Zhi Sheng” sounds like “Trump Wins Big,” jumped the most in five months, according to Bloomberg News.

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Janice Hahn holds early lead in 4th District supervisor race to succeed Knabe

Janice Hahn celebrates her early lead in San Pedro.
Janice Hahn celebrates her early lead in San Pedro.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Janice Hahn was ahead in early results in the race to replace Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe, who represents southern Los Angeles County.

With 19% of precincts reporting, Hahn was winning with 55% of the vote, while Steve Napolitano was pulling in 45%. That total also includes a partial count of mail-in ballots.

U.S. Rep. Hahn, a Democrat from San Pedro, faced a tough fight with rival Napolitano, a Republican and former Manhattan Beach councilman who has worked for Knabe for 12 years. If elected, Hahn would be the fourth labor-backed liberal on the officially nonpartisan five-member board — constituting a supermajority that could make it easier to approve tax and salary matters favored by the county’s most powerful unions. Knabe and Michael D. Antonovich — the two Republicans on the board — are being forced out by term limits.

Knabe, a resident of Cerritos, was first elected to the Board of Supervisors in 1996.

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Loretta Sanchez supporter on her defeat: ‘That’s a shame, but I’m not surprised’

(Nina Agrawal / Los Angeles Times)

Sitting at tables decorated with red, white and blue centerpieces, supporters of Orange County Rep. Loretta Sanchez had no idea her race for U.S. Senate had already been called, and not in her favor.

They chatted, mostly in Spanish, over bottles of Jarritos soda and waited for the Mexican food buffet to open up.

Sanchez’s election night party was held at a Santa Ana campaign office she shared with Lou Correa, the Democrat she’d endorsed to take her place in Congress. A bank of cameras separated a smattering of tables from an empty stage.

Sanchez’s race was one of the first in California to be called. Correa, on the other hand, appeared to be winning by a large 70-30 margin in early returns.

Yvonne Gonzalez Duncan, 69, was incredulous when she was told the Associated Press had the Senate race in favor of Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris. “That’s unbelievable. I mean, 20 years of experience,” she said before trailing off and shaking her head. “We were hoping to have ... a Latina senator. It’s a shameful thing for California that we don’t.”

Edwin Power, a Sanchez supporter and a former neighbor of hers, was more subdued. “I can believe that,” he said of the news that Harris had won. “That’s a shame, but I’m not surprised. She would have had to plant herself in Northern California and picked up a lot more funding to overcome the situation she was in.”

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Trump campaign manager on how they upended expectations

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L.A. County tax measure for parks leading in early results

Men play pinochle at Fred Roberts Recreation Center in South Los Angeles, an area that is among the most park-poor parts of L.A. County.
Men play pinochle at Fred Roberts Recreation Center in South Los Angeles, an area that is among the most park-poor parts of L.A. County.
(Ricardo DeAratanha/Los Angeles Times)

A Los Angeles County ballot measure asking voters to tax themselves for park improvements is leading in early voting results.

With 14% of the precincts reporting, Measure A is leading with 70.19% of voters in support of the ballot initiative. It requires a two-thirds vote to pass.

Measure A, if passed, would impose a county tax on improved property, at a rate of 1.5 cents per square foot of building area – about $22.50 a year for a 1,500-square-foot house – and bring in $94.5 million a year, without an end date.

It would replace a county tax that passed in 1992 but expired last year, and another one adopted in 1996 that sunsets in two years. Those taxes have been the primary source of parks funding not just in the county’s system but for most of the region’s 88 cities.

The initiative is the county’s second recent attempt at persuading voters to tax themselves to pay for parks, recreation, open spaces, neighborhood recreation and senior centers, and other cultural amenities. A proposed $23 parcel tax for park projects had failed narrowly in 2014.

In preparation for the second attempt, county officials commissioned a study of open space needs throughout the county, which found large disparities in park access. Countywide, there was an average of 3.3 acres of parkland per 1,000 residents. Communities in Central and South Los Angeles, southeast county areas and parts of the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys had the most park-poor areas.

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New York was the center of the political universe, but much of the city was glum as Trump pulled ahead

The Empire State Building in New York is lit in red, white and blue Tuesday as seen from Weehawken, N.J.
(Eduardo Munoz / AFP/Getty Images)

The Empire State Building was illuminated in red, white and blue, with election results projected along the side of the building for the city to watch the action live. Times Square had a dozen competing screens projecting news of the election. Much as they do on New Year’s Eve, crowds gathered in suitably colorful attire — mostly red, white and blue — in hopes of celebrating with their compatriots.

All eyes were on New York on election day, with the presidential candidates holding dueling election parties 15 blocks apart in midtown Manhattan, and thousands of their supporters cheering them on.

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Measure CC, to raise $3.5 billion for L.A. community college construction, holds lead in incomplete returns

Early results late Tuesday night were positive for Measure CC, a $3.5-billion construction bond for the Los Angeles Community College District.

With 8% of precincts reporting, the measure was securing nearly 72% of the vote, better than the 55% majority needed to pass. The early totals also included partial vote-by-mail counts.

Supporters argued that the money is necessary to complete renovation efforts that began with earlier bond measures. Projects to be completed include earthquake-safety upgrades and better access for disabled students.

“I have to think that voters are going to support Measure CC,” said Joanne Waddell, president of Local 1521 of the American Federation of Teachers, which represents 5,000 faculty members on the nine college-district campuses.

“We’ve been transforming our campuses and this will take us to the next step in that transformation. Our students deserve this.”

Opponents pointed to problems that arose with the spending of money from bond measures adopted in 2001, 2003 and 2008, which residents are still paying off, and questioned why more money is needed. Past projects were beset by mismanagement, waste and nepotism, as The Times detailed in 2011.

College officials insisted their efforts have improved and are overseen by new and professional leadership, with better accountability measures.

One of the district’s biggest changes was to strip away from individual college presidents the power they formerly had over design and construction, and to centralize that authority with the district’s administration.

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Measure to build new San Diego stadium for Chargers failing badly

A San Diego ballot measure to increase hotel taxes and build a new downtown football stadium for the Chargers was losing badly Tuesday.

With about 20% of the precincts reporting, 61% of voters were opposing Measure C, and 39% of voters signaled support. Measure C requires a two-thirds majority to pass.

Drafted by the Chargers and backed by San Diego’s mayor, Measure C would increase hotel taxes from 12.5% to 16.5% and use the money to build a city-owned downtown football stadium and convention center. Opponents say tax money is better used for other purposes.

A competing proposal, Measure D, would also raise hotel taxes, but by a lesser amount, but prohibits public money for a stadium. But that measure was also losing badly, with 60% of voters opposed.

The city attorney says Measure D also requires a two-thirds vote, but a lead author of Measure D argues that only a majority vote is required.

In January, the San Diego Chargers said the team would not move to Inglewood for the 2016 season and would redouble efforts to reach a deal to remain in their hometown.

A failure to reach a deal could result in the Chargers moving to the Los Angeles market.

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Hillary Clinton can still win the popular vote, thanks to California

(Joe Raedle / Getty Images)

Barring a late rebound in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, Hillary Clinton appears unlikely to get 270 electoral college votes to become president.

But, like Al Gore, she may be on track to still earn more votes across the country.

Here’s why.

The states with the most vote still left to count are primarily those on the West Coast, with notoriously slow-counting California chief among them. As of 10:20 p.m. Pacific Time, Trump’s popular-vote lead over Clinton was just over 1.3 million votes.

But less than a third of California’s precincts have reported so far. Only 10% of precincts in Los Angeles County are in.

In 2012, President Obama netted more than 3 million popular votes out of California. Should Clinton end up with a similar tally, or even shy of that, she could still end up topping Trump in the popular vote.

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San Francisco measure to allow 16-, 17-year-olds to vote slightly ahead in early returns

A measure that would lower the voting age and allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in municipal elections in San Francisco was leading in early returns Tuesday.

With 40% of precincts reporting, Proposition F was supported by 53.71% of voters.

If approved, those teenagers would be allowed to vote for school board and community college board members, and for local candidates and local ballot measures. The city controller estimated the number of registered voters would probably increase by up to 1%, if 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds vote at the same rate as the general population.

Supporters say Proposition F would encourage improved civic participation — the earlier someone starts voting, the more likely they are to vote for the rest of their life, they argued.

Opponents say adolescents shouldn’t have the privilege of voting, as many of them don’t have the daily responsibilities that adults do.

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Gary Johnson to supporters: ‘There is going to be a third voice in this country’

(Molly Riley/AFP/Getty Images)

From the outset of his campaign, Gary Johnson was the longest of long shots.

But in a tight race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, Johnson netted several hundred thousand votes in key states.

In New Hampshire, where Trump and Clinton were only 4,000 votes apart, Johnson received 25,000 votes, based on preliminary returns.

During an election night party in New Mexico, where he served as governor from 1995 to 2003, Johnson thanked supporters.

“We have a lot to celebrate, a lot to celebrate. This is a celebration,” Johnson said.

In Michigan late Tuesday night, the race between Clinton and Trump was being decided by less than 100,000 votes, and Johnson received nearly 150,000 votes.

“There is going to be a third voice in this country” moving forward, Johnson told his supporters.

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Missouri governorship passes to Republican candidate

Missouri Republican Governor-elect Eric Greitens hugs his wife Sheena as he delivers a victory speech Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016, in Chesterfield, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Curry)
(Jeff Curry / AP)

The previously Democratic governorship of Missouri passed into Republican hands, with Democratic State Atty. Gen. Chris Koster losing out to Eric Greitens, a onetime Navy SEAL who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Republicans retain control of Senate as a conservative wave takes shape

Republicans kept control of the Senate on Tuesday, retaining the majority after Democratic challengers failed to win key elections in battleground states.

Just one Republican incumbent senator lost, in Illinois, while several others pulled through in Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The race in New Hampshire remained too close to call, and Louisiana pushed to a December runoff but it is set to remain Republican.

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Voters approve Proposition 55, which extends higher income tax rates for the wealthiest Californians

First-grade students at Vine Street Elementary School in Hollywood.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

The wealthiest Californians will continue to pay higher income taxes as voters look to have approved Proposition 55.

In returns as of late Tuesday night, the measure led with more than 61% of votes counted.

“California voters have once again stood up for our children and schools in approving Proposition 55 to protect critical funding for education and keep vital services intact,” Jennifer Wonnacott, spokeswoman for Yes on 55, said in a statement.

Proposition 55’s passage means that single-filers earning more than $263,000 and joint-filers making more than $526,000 will pay a 10.3% tax on their income through 2030. Those making more than $1 million will pay the highest rate of 13.3%. The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office has estimated that the higher tax rates will raise $4 billion to $9 billion a year, depending on the economy and stock market.

Voter approval of Proposition 55 continues the state’s reliance on the wealthiest Californians to fund a significant amount of services. The richest 1.5% of taxpayers paid $33.9 billion in income tax revenues last year, a substantial portion of the day-to-day operating budget.

The higher tax rates were first implemented in 2012 when voters approved Proposition 30 during a time of severe budget crisis. Under the measure, those rates were set to expire in 2018.

Since Proposition 30 passed, the state’s revenues have improved dramatically, but Gov. Jerry Brown warned of future deficits unless Proposition 55 was approved.

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Pat Toomey holds on to his Senate seat in Pennsylvania

Katie McGinty and Pat Toomey.
(Jared Wickerham / Associated Press)

Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey successfully beat back a challenge by Democrat Katie McGinty to claim his second term.

The Republican had fought for most of the general election against a strong Democratic headwind in the state, as many of the moderate voters who determine Pennsylvania elections sided with Hillary Clinton and McGinty.

Seeking not to further alienate them, Toomey throughout the race declined to say whether he would vote for his fellow Republican Donald Trump, instead lamenting the choice facing voters in the presidential race.

He and allies, including a conservative super PAC, also leveled a fusillade of advertising at McGinty critical of taxes she had advocated as an aide to Democratic politicians.

One of his most controversial moves came at the end of the campaign, when Toomey, who had regularly criticized President Obama, launched an ad featuring positive statements that Obama had made about his actions on a failed measure to expand background checks.

The ad prompted a rare rebuke from the president, who said Toomey, 54, was trying to “have it both ways by telling different people what he thinks they want to hear.”

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California passes Proposition 52 to make Medi-Cal funding program permanent

A technician prepares surgical trays at Providence Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance in 2015.
(Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

Californians have chosen to make permanent the hospital fee program that helps fund Medi-Cal, the state’s subsidized healthcare program for low-income residents.

Early election returns show the measure passing with more than 70% of the vote. Proposition 52 will hobble state lawmakers’ ability to change or end the hospital fee program.

Through the program, hospitals pay to generate a federal contribution to Medi-Cal that results in a net benefit to the hospitals. During the fiscal year that ended in June 2016, the program generated $4.4 billion in federal funding for Medi-Cal.

The Legislature first authorized the program in 2009. Now, changes to the program will require voter approval or a two-thirds majority vote by state lawmakers.

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How did the weakened Voting Rights Act impact election results?

How did the newly weakened Voting Rights Act impact election results?

In short, it’s very hard to know yet.

Tuesday election was the first since a monumental Supreme Court ruling in 2013 struck down key part of Voting Rights Act, leading to sweeping changes in voting rules across a swath of Southern states and several other districts or states that had historically discriminated against minorities.

Those changes included new voter ID requirements, as well as closing or changing locations of hundreds and likely thousands of polling sites, shifts that used to require federal approval.

Studies and some court rulings have said that ID laws have disproportionately impacted racial minorities, a group that tends to vote Democratic.

The Supreme Court ruled over the summer that new North Carolina voting rules targeted black Americans with “almost surgical precision.”

A preliminary report from the nonpartisan Election Protection Coalition said voters faced numerous obstacles on Tuesday, including incorrect enforcement of voter ID laws.

The group said it logged 35,000 complaints from round the country for alleged voter intimidation, long lines and other problems.

But voting experts say that doesn’t necessarily mean -- at least not yet -- that the new ID rules and other changes affected election results.

The reason: it’s impossible to know who or how many people didn’t vote because of new voting restrictions, and it’s also difficult to say how they might have voted.

“It’s difficult to make a direct link between the results that we’re seeing so far and the Voting Rights Act,” said Nicole Austin-Hillery, director of the Washington, D.C. office of the Brennan Center for Justice. Austin-Hillery said she was concerned that voter ID rules may have had a “chilling effect on voters” showing up at the polls.

On the presidential level, the Southern states that made up the largest area impacted by changes to the Voting Rights Act are states that have voted Republican for decades.

Still, civil rights groups said Tuesday’s election showed why it was necessary to fully reinstate the Voting Rights Act.

“We will learn more in the coming days about the specifics of the challenges faced by voters around the country, but we already know the truth: The Voting Rights Act is vital and necessary to protect our elections,” said Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.

“Voters were confused because of changes to their polling places and a lack of accurate information provided to them by their state officials,” she said in a statement.

“In jurisdictions formerly covered by the Voting Rights Act, voters saw 868 polling places closed, forcing too many people to travel as far as 25 miles just to be able to vote,” said Ifill, who monitored voting sites in Alabama, where new ID laws were used.

This year “should go down in history as the only presidential election of the modern era without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act,” she added.

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How the USC/L.A. Times poll saw what other surveys missed

Nellie Gillogly, left, of Santa Ana, and fellow Republicans erupt in celebration as Donald Trump wins Florida.
Nellie Gillogly, left, of Santa Ana, and fellow Republicans erupt in celebration as Donald Trump wins Florida.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

For most of the last four months, the USC/L.A. Times Daybreak tracking poll has been the great outlier of the 2016 campaign -- consistently showing a better result for Donald Trump than other surveys did.

In light of Tuesday’s election returns, the poll now looks like the only major survey to see the wave coming.

Most of the summer and fall, the poll’s results have been about 6 percentage points more favorable to the Republican than the polling averages. As of Tuesday morning, the poll’s final forecast for the election showed Trump leading by a little over 3 points, 46.8% to 43.6%.

The poll’s findings caused dismay — even outrage — among some readers, especially Democrats, who have denounced it and often criticized The Times for running it.

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Garcetti ‘optimistic’ about passage of L.A. Metro tax measure

(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

An ambitious measure to raise the Los Angeles County sales tax and dramatically expand the mass transit system took an early lead Tuesday night in early and absentee voting, just passing the two-thirds threshold needed for victory with 9% of precincts reporting.

The early tally showed 67.28% of voters favored the half-cent sales tax increase. That’s above the 66.67% threshold it needs to win.

“I’m superstitious. I don’t ever declare victory until the end,” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. But, he added, early results looked “very promising.”

Metropolitan Transportation Authority board member Jackie Dupont-Walker, the agency’s only voting director who is not an elected official, said she was hopeful that the measure would pass.

“I’m feeling good,” she said, adding that she had spent the last few days criss-crossing the county, talking to transit riders along the Expo Line and the Silver Line busway.

But the early returns went essentially unnoticed at the initiative’s downtown victory party.

About 100 transit advocates, politicians and public employees gathered at the Farmers and Merchant Bank event space, holding cocktails in plastic cups and staring at CNN on a large projection screen, watching the results come in for the presidential race.

Garcetti spoke optimistically also about Measure HHH, an ambitious measure to tackle the homeless problem in Los Angeles.

“People said here, solve the problems that we face every day,” Garcetti said, referring to both Measure M and Measure HHH, the proposed $1.2-billion bond to build housing for L.A.’s homeless. “That’s a very strong message coming from Los Angeles and coming from the West Coast.”

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When reality sets in

Claudia Goytia checks her smartphone for any good news regarding Hillary Clinton while attending a party for a local measure in downtown Los Angeles.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Hillary Clinton had been leading all along. Or that’s what the polls said for months, and thus what the poll-tracking sites said for months. That’s part of the story of tonight: the mood of mild certainty that had rippled through Clinton supporters’ friend circles and their Facebook feeds. It had given Democrats the deceptive feeling of a tailwind as they glided out of the final years of the Obama administration. That’s all gone now.

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What’s going on in America? Here’s an update

The L.A. Times’ Mark Barabak and Michelle Maltais catch you up on the latest election results.

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A look back at the career of Joe Arpaio, ‘America’s toughest sheriff’

The path he started on years ago led Joe Arpaio to a red-lit stage in July, his hand outstretched as thousands cheered “Trump! Trump! Trump!”

Never before had a presidential candidate so embraced the man who calls himself “America’s Toughest Sheriff,” a founding father of the strong-borders movement whose hardened views on immigration seemed to square up perfectly with those of the Republican nominee. Donald Trump gave Arpaio a full five minutes in front of the Republican National Committee.

It marked what probably was the last major national appearance of Arpaio’s political career.

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Proposition 51, the $9-billion school bond, leads in early returns

Proposition 51, a $9-billion bond for school construction and repairs, has a lead in early returns.

The measure leads with 52.4% of the statewide vote. Proposition 51 had struggled in public polls throughout the fall. It never trailed, but hadn’t reached majority support. The state’s four most recent school bond measures passed, and school bonds in general tend to see strong support.

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Rep. David Valadao wins a third term, beating son of labor rights icon Dolores Huerta

Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford) speaks with high school interns at his Hanford campaign office
(Sarah D. Wire / Los Angeles Times)

Rep. David Valadao won a third term representing the Central Valley’s 21st District, holding 58.3% of the vote with nearly two-thirds counted.

The race between the Hanford Republican and Democratic attorney Emilio Huerta, the son of labor rights icon Dolores Huerta, was one of the more closely watched in the state.

Democrats hoped Huerta’s name recognition would turn the tide and that the district’s nearly 75% Latino population would be spurred to vote by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s comments about Mexicans and immigrants.

But Valadao announced in June that he could not support Trump because of his rhetoric and would not back Democrat Hillary Clinton either. He was able to keep the race focused on local issues, particularly the agricultural area’s water needs, a topic he’s focused on in his first two terms.

The district covers a vast stretch of the Central Valley from Bakersfield north into Kettleman City and Wood Ranch.

Valadao is known in Washington for repeatedly pushing water legislation focused on funneling more water to San Joaquin Valley growers by reducing the amount used to support endangered fish populations.

Democrats and environmental groups say the plan would override federal legal protections for salmon, migratory birds and other fish and wildlife. California’s U.S. senators and Bay Area House Democrats oppose the plan, which has passed the House a number of times but hasn’t moved in the Senate.

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California will bring back bilingual education as Proposition 58 cruises to victory

Public schools in California will have more power to develop their own bilingual and multilingual programs after voters on Tuesday approved a measure repealing English-only instruction across the state.

With nearly 21% of 24,849 precincts reporting, Proposition 58 appeared to coast to victory, with 73% support among voters. Twenty-seven percent of voters sought to defeat it.

Proposition 58, the product of 2014 legislation written by Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens), overhauls key parts of a 1998 law that requires students to take classes taught only English, unless parents sign a waiver requesting otherwise.

But it preserves a portion of the statute mandating that all students become proficient in English, no matter what program they choose.

Supporters of the measure lauded its approval, saying the bureaucratic red tape around multilingual education is harmful to students in a global economy, where the most sought-after employees speak more than one language.

But opponents of the measure, most notably Silicon Valley multimillionaire Ron Unz, who wrote the original English-only Proposition 227, have said the new law would be a return to the problems of the past, when bilingual programs were failing to teach Spanish-speaking students English.

The vote comes as less than 5% of California public schools now offer multilingual programs, though there are now 1.4 million English learners — about 80% of whom speak only Spanish.

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Despair at Clinton’s election party in West Hollywood

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Burbank airport terminal replacement measure leading in early mail-in votes

An airplane takes off at Burbank airport in March.
An airplane takes off at Burbank airport in March.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

A measure to allow the replacement of the aging, cramped and seismically deficient Hollywood Burbank airport was dominating in early vote-by-mail ballots counted Tuesday.

The early “yes” vote clocked in at 75.78% of the vote. But no ballots cast at Tuesday’s polls had yet been counted.

If approved by a majority of voters, Measure B will permit the construction of a 14-gate replacement terminal at what was formerly known as Bob Hope Airport in a plan supported by both airport officials and a majority of the Burbank city council.

Opened 86 years ago, the Burbank airport terminal is considered outdated and obsolete, so close to the runway it does not meet federal design safety standards. It also is vulnerable to heavy damage in a major earthquake.

Airport and Burbank city officials have openly feuded about the terminal’s future for decades, and this agreement would finally pave the way for a new replacement.

A rejection of Measure B would likely result in an ongoing legal battle between the airport and the city, and the airport authority could attempt to build a terminal of the same size in a less favorable area, one that would force the demolition and replacement of the general aviation terminal.

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Proposition 57, Gov. Jerry Brown’s push to loosen prison parole rules, is approved by voters

California voters handed a decisive victory to Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday in his effort to reshape the state’s criminal justice system, approving a ballot measure to offer a new chance at prison release for thousands of prisoners.

(Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press)

Proposition 57, the governor’s plan to further shrink the state’s prison population, was supported by almost two-thirds of voters in Tuesday night returns. Its strongest support came from urban areas with a sizable number of Democratic voters.

The ballot measure changes the state’s prison and legal systems in three significant ways. The least controversial element will reverse a law approved by voters in 2000 that sent more juvenile defendants to adult courtrooms. Those young defendants will now only be charged as adults with a judge’s approval.

The most controversial parts of Proposition 57 involve the prospect of parole for felons who have not been convicted of one of California’s designated “violent” crimes, and the creation of new good-behavior credits that all state prisoners would be eligible to earn.

Brown and district attorneys clashed mightily over the ballot measure’s assertion that new parole eligibility would be limited to “nonviolent felons.” Prosecutors accused the governor of hiding the fact that some prisoners convicted of brutal sexual assault crimes, for example, would be eligible for parole under Proposition 57. Brown fired back, accusing district attorneys of having helped craft a narrow definition of “violent” crimes under state law, and he said prosecutors did not want their decisions to be reviewed by the state Board of Prison Hearings.

Just how many prisoners would be eligible to request parole remains to be seen, though early estimates suggest it could be in the thousands. Proposition 57 also now requires state prison officials to craft policies for new good-behavior credits, allowances that could be earned by those serving a wide variety of sentences.

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Arizona Democrats were desperate for good news. They found it in Sheriff Arpaio’s loss.

The cheers in the Renaissance Hotel ballroom weren’t just joyful, but cathartic.

After a night of nail-biting over presidential election returns, Arizona Democrats roared with relief when they learned their longtime foil, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, had lost his reelection bid.

As the crowd waited for Arpaio’s successor, Democrat Paul Penzone, to take the stage, they chanted: “A new sheriff in town!”

“We made a statement across the nation,” Penzone told them. “Arizona stands for something greater. No matter where we come from or what we look like or what our beliefs are, we’re all entitled to respect.”

Arpaio, who was charged last month with criminal contempt for violating a judge’s order in a racial profiling case, had long been a target of Democrats. They said his aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration had terrorized the state’s Latino population.

Attendees at the Arizona Democratic Party gathering to watch election results appeared genuinely grateful to get some good news as Donald Trump took state after state.

They cheered both Penzone’s victory and the passage of a statewide initiative to raise the minimum hourly wage to $12 by 2020.

Otherwise, they anxiously scanned their phones and watched cable news returns, trying to make sense of a presidential race that upended all political predictions.

“Worried, worried, worried,” was how Star Carreon, 44, a human resources associate from Tempe, described her state of mind.

“I didn’t think it would be this close,” she said as results were still coming in.

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Measure CC, to raise $3.5 billion for L.A. community college construction, would pass if early lead holds

Early results are positive for Measure CC, a $3.5-billion construction bond for the Los Angeles Community College District.

With 6% of precincts reporting, the measure was securing nearly 71% of the vote, with a 55% majority needed to pass.

Supporters argued that the money is necessary to complete renovation efforts that began with earlier bond measures. Projects to be completed include earthquake-safety upgrades and better access for disabled students.

Opponents pointed to problems that arose with the spending of money from bond measures adopted in 2001, 2003 and 2008, which residents are still paying off, and questioned why more money is needed. Past projects were beset by mismanagement, waste and nepotism, as The Times detailed in 2011.

College officials insisted their efforts have improved and are overseen by new and professional leadership, with better accountability measures.

One of the district’s biggest changes was to strip away from individual college presidents the power they formerly had over design and construction, and to centralize that authority with the district’s administration.

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Steyer: Californians are going to oppose Trump’s ‘hate-filled rhetoric’

California Democratic mega-donor Tom Steyer said he hopes the election results in the state stand as a stark contrast to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s strong performance across the country.

“I really feel as if the question here is going to be: Do we fully embrace each other’s humanity? That’s actually going to be the question on the ballot for me in 2016 in California,” said Steyer, speaking outside state Democratic Party headquarters before the polls closed in California. “I think the answer is going to be yes. I think this is a year where honestly the opposite has been stated very loudly by Mr. Trump and I’m hoping that the California citizens in a very extended fashion are going to step up and say no to that kind of Trump hate-filled rhetoric.”

Steyer was a major donor behind seven state ballot measures, including those to end the death penalty and allow for bilingual education in schools. Steyer was the largest contributor in support of Proposition 56, which would raise the cigarette tax by $2 a pack, spending $11.6 million. He also supported local tax hikes for transportation and low-income housing measures.

So far, in early returns, most of Steyer’s statewide bets look good, with only his efforts on the death penalty losing.

Steyer, who also spent heavily on a major voter registration drive, has been mentioned as a future candidate for statewide office. He declined to address his own future Tuesday night.

“What I’ve said is we’re going get the information from this election and assess it and make a decision about what the best way is to pursue the interests and passions that we have as a group and I personally have been pursuing,” Steyer said.

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Breaking down Prop 64 support by region

William Britt, of Long Beach, and Al Moreno, of Fullerton, both proponents of Proposition 64, the California Adult Use of Marijuana Act, celebrate a win at the DoubleTree hotel.
William Britt, of Long Beach, and Al Moreno, of Fullerton, both proponents of Proposition 64, the California Adult Use of Marijuana Act, celebrate a win at the DoubleTree hotel.
(Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

The Associated Press has projected that Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, will pass with 55.2% of voters supporting it. But the rejoicing (toking?) will not be uniform across the state.

Exit polls conducted by Edison Research showed some counties passed it by a much larger margins (hello Bay Area!), while there was significantly less support in other parts of the state.

Support for the measure was lowest in the Central Valley and other inland areas of the state where the vote was split almost down the middle.

Enthusiasm for legalizing marijuana was highest in the Bay Area, where an impressive 72% of the electorate voted yes on the proposition.

Exit polls show that 60% of voters in L.A. County supported the measure, compared to 61% among people who live along the coast, and about half of the electorate in Orange, San Diego and other Southern California counties.

Six years ago, California voters were asked a similar question about legalizing marijuana, but Proposition 19 failed, 53.5% to 46.5%.

While Prop. 19 found support in city centers, people in suburbs and rural areas mostly voted against the measure.

This time around, residents of suburbs appear more receptive to legalization. According to exit polls, 55% of respondents from suburbs said they voted “yes” on Proposition 64. Support was again high in cities.

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Kamala Harris will be the first Indian American U.S. senator and California’s first black senator

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Kamala Harris’ win Tuesday night will make her the first Indian American to serve in the U.S. Senate.

She will also be just the second black woman to serve in the U.S. Senate, and the first black senator from California.

Harris’ race and ethnicity were never a focal point of the contest, which she was projected to win handily. Many people focused more on the possibility that California might have elected the first Latina to the Senate if Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Orange) had won.

Harris’ mother, Dr. Shyamala Harris, emigrated from India. Her father, Donald Harris, emigrated from Jamaica.

According to the U.S. Senate’s website, just nine black Americans have ever served in the Senate. Democrat Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois became the first black woman to serve in the body in 1993.

A handful of Indian Americans have served in the U.S. House, including California’s Dalip Singh Saund from 1957 to 1963 and current Rep. Ami Bera (D-Elk Grove), who was first elected in 2012.

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Support for marijuana seems strong across the nation

(Haven Daley / Associated Press)

It’s on the ballot in five states and many voters appear to be in favor of legal recreational marijuana.

In California, Massachusetts and Nevada, voters approved marijuana for recreational use. Maine and Arizona also voted on recreational weed on Tuesday, but the results were not yet clear.

Meanwhile, Florida and North Dakota legalized marijuana for medicinal use, and Arkansas considered such a proposal.

“This is the most important moment in the history of the marijuana legalization movement,” Tom Angell, chairman Marijuana Majority, a group in favor of legalization efforts, said about the passage of Prop. 64 in California.

He added that the state has “the sixth-largest economy in the world and is hugely culturally influential. Most importantly, this vote will dramatically accelerate the end of federal marijuana prohibition.”

Dozens of states already allow medicinal marijuana, while four states — Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington — passed legal recreational pot in past years.

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‘Black Mirror’ responds to the election comparisons

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Barger takes early lead in 5th District supervisor race for northern L.A. County

Darrell Park and Kathryn Barger are running to replace L.A. County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, who is being termed out of office.
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

Kathryn Barger forged a solid early lead in the race to replace Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, who represents northern Los Angeles County.

With 19% of precincts reporting, Barger claimed 62% of the vote, while her opponent, Darrell Park, received 38%.

Barger, a moderate Republican, is Antonovich’s longtime chief of staff, and started working for Antonovich as an intern 28 years ago. She also has the backing of four of the county’s five supervisors and of powerful labor groups, including the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

Her opponent, Park, has campaigned heavily on his Democratic party affiliation. Park is a green energy entrepreneur and former staffer in the White House Office of Management and Budget under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Antonovich, a Republican who has held his seat on the Board of Supervisors since 1980, is being forced out by term limits that were approved by voters in 2002. He is seeking election to the state Senate.

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Janice Hahn takes early lead in 4th District supervisor race to succeed Knabe

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Janice Hahn was ahead in early results in the race to replace Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe, who represents southern Los Angeles County.

With 6% of precincts reporting, Hahn was winning with 55% of the vote, while Steve Napolitano was pulling in 45%.

U.S. Rep. Hahn, a Democrat from San Pedro, faced a tough fight with rival Napolitano, a Republican and former Manhattan Beach councilman who has worked for Knabe for 12 years. If elected, Hahn would be the fourth labor-backed liberal on the officially nonpartisan five-member board — constituting a supermajority that could make it easier to approve tax and salary matters favored by the county’s most powerful unions. Knabe and Michael D. Antonovich — the two Republicans on the board — are being forced out by term limits.

Knabe, a resident of Cerritos, was first elected to the Board of Supervisors in 1996.

Supervisor candidates Janice Hahn and Steve Napolitano at a debate in May.
Supervisor candidates Janice Hahn and Steve Napolitano at a debate in May.
(Christina House / For The Times)

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Supporters giddy at Kamala Harris’ election night party — until they see the presidential race updates

At Kamala Harris’ election night party in downtown Los Angeles at the Exchange LA nightclub, supporters let out a cheer when word came that she was declared the winner in California’s U.S. Senate race.

But the mood was quite different for those watching a giant TV screen looming over the dance floor, which flashed news reports about the presidential election returns.

“We’re a bit concerned about what’s happening nationally,” said Angelov Farooq, director of UC Riverside’s Center for Economic Development and Innovation. “But I’m excited about Kamala Harris. I think she represents the future. She’s a very authentic leader.”

Victoria Ferguson stood on the dance floor staring up at the TV screen, and she looked nervous. Trump was ahead in the presidential race at the time. Many of her friends are immigrants and she’s worried about their future.

“This is a total bummer,” Ferguson, 25, a personnel recruiter, said about Trump.

Hopefully, Harris will be about to provide balance in Washington, she said.

One sign of the Harris campaign’s confidence even before the polls closed: Two giant nets filled with red, white and blue balloons were fashioned to the ceiling, at the ready. The liquor shelves at the two cash bars also were fully stocked, and getting busy.

Kevin Quint, 30, and Lee Lovingood, 34, who both teach history at Temescal Canyon High School in Lake Elsinore, said they wanted to be on hand for such a seminal moment.

“Her victory is going to be pretty historical, right?” Lovingood said. “She’s going to be the first African American and Indian American senator from California.”

Lovingood said he voted for Harris because she had a more positive message while Sanchez “says some wild things.”

Marilyn Rodriguez, a USC senior from Van Nuys, decided to attend the event because Harris impressed her during two visits to campus. Harris, she said, was a champion of immigrant rights and protecting children.

Rodriquez watched the Oct. 5 Harris-Sanchez debate, and that helped seal it.

“I think it was a little bit unprofessional when [Sanchez] did the dab at the end,” Rodriquez said.

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How is Twitter holding up as the election results roll in?

Not great, it appears.

As election results filter in, showing a closer race than anticipated by some, Twitter is displaying a wide spectrum of emotion as they work on processing the information.

For some, Donald Trump’s impressive performance sparked a full-fledged crisis of confidence.

Others, also moved by the mounting election results, called for a sense of calm and unity, even in the face of a disparity of beliefs.

Still others decided that the best recourse may be looking to our friendly neighbors to the North.

But right now, Canada’s entire informational immigration website was down thanks to unusually high traffic.

In the meantime, there are still these otters holding hands that everyone can agree are great.

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Liz Cheney wins dad’s onetime congressional seat

(Jenna VonHofe / Associated Press)

Liz Cheney won her father’s former congressional seat in Wyoming on Tuesday.

The eldest daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney cruised to victory over Democrat Ryan Greene.

Cheney previously served in the State Department but has never held elected office. She had widespread name recognition in the state and a large financial advantage over Greene. But she was accused of being a carpet-bagger and criticized for running against an incumbent Republican in a 2013 primary before dropping out after polling poorly.

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Republican Phil Scott wins Vermont governor’s race

Vermont Republican gubernatorial candidate Phil Scott.
(Andy Duback/Associated Press)

In the governor’s race in Vermont, voters switched the state into the GOP column. Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Scott bested Democrat Sue Minter, the former state transportation secretary. Although the state is traditionally Democratic-leaning, it sometimes supports candidates who are fiscally conservative but socially liberal.

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Measure to approve building of Beverly Hills’ tallest tower trailing in early returns

Ongoing construction in Beverly Hills.
Ongoing construction in Beverly Hills.
(Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

An unprecedented ballot measure asking Beverly Hills voters to skip the city’s planning review process and approve what would be the city’s tallest tower is trailing in early voting results.

Sponsored by the tower’s developer, Beny Alagem, Measure HH would allow him to bypass city officials and secure permission directly from the voters for a $700-million redevelopment project, which includes a 26-story building, at the site of the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Local authorities say this is the first time voters have been asked to approve a project that wasn’t fully vetted first by planning commissioners and the City Council. With 16.67% of the precincts reporting, Measure HH is trailing, with 42.57% backing the measure and 57.43% opposed.

If passed, the project would in effect stack two previously approved condominium towers of eight and 18 stories into a single 26-story tower, while adding a Waldorf Astoria hotel and expanding a green space from 1.25 acres to 1.7 acres. Standing at 345 feet, the tower would be twice the height of any other structure in Beverly Hills.

Measure HH is opposed by a subsidiary of China’s Wanda Group, controlled by the richest man in China, and its development partner, Athens Group, which together are building a $1.2-billion hotel-condominium project called One Beverly Hills just across from Alagem’s property.

John Mirisch, the city’s mayor, has also come out against the Hilton project — both because it’s “out of scale for our community” and because he says Alagem is trying to circumvent city planners and mislead residents. “This is a skyscraper masquerading as an open-space initiative,” he said.

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Higher cigarette and income taxes for California look strong on first returns

(Paul J. Richards / AFP/Getty Images)

Early returns show strong support among Californians for a $2-per-pack cigarette tax increase and continued higher income tax rates for the state’s wealthiest residents.

The first results from the Secretary of State’s office show that Proposition 55, which would maintain the higher income tax rates first passed four years ago through 2030, leads with 61% of the vote with 13% of precincts reporting statewide. Similarly, the Proposition 56 tobacco tax hike leads with almost 61.5% of the vote with 13.6% of precincts reporting.

The early returns track with strong polling numbers that both measures have received throughout the fall.

The Associated Press has not yet called Proposition 56, but supporters of the tobacco tax are already declaring victory.

“Finally, after tobacco companies have preyed on our communities for decades and used their influence to stop tobacco taxes in California, voters have sent an unmistakable message: your products, including e-cigarettes, destroy lives, and we are committed to breaking the cycle,” said Laphonza Butler, president of SEIU California, in a statement.

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First California congressional winner of the night, Rep. Duncan Hunter, was an early Trump supporter

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Funding to house L.A.’s homeless leads in early returns

Homeless people on the street in Venice.
(Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

A bond measure that backers say would fund the most ambitious effort to confront the homeless crisis in Los Angeles was leading in early returns Tuesday, and, if the margin holds, the measure would achieve the two-thirds vote it needs to pass.

With 52 of 1,700 precincts reporting, Measure HHH had the support of 75% of the electorate, but it is much too early to project a result.

Measure HHH asked Los Angeles city voters to approve general obligation bonds that would raise money to build housing for chronically homeless people. The city would borrow up to $1.2 billion over 10 years for construction projects to provide “safe, clean, affordable housing for the homeless and for those in danger of becoming homeless.”

The average annual cost over the 29 years the bonds are being repaid would be $9.64 per $100,000 of assessed valuation. That would be $32.87 on a home valued at the median of $341,000.

The measure would not nearly move all the city’s homeless into housing, but supporters have argued that it is an important early step.

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Tax hike for L.A. Metro transit expansion leads in early returns

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

A sales tax hike that would fund the most ambitious mass transit expansion in Los Angeles County history was ahead in early returns Tuesday.

With 9% of precincts reporting, 67.28% of voters favored the half-cent sales tax increase. That’s above the 66.67% threshold it needs to win.

If two-thirds of voters approve Measure M — which would raise the sales tax an additional half a penny for every dollar spent — Los Angeles County would see a dramatic rail expansion over the next 40 years.

By raising about $120 billion in revenue over four decades, the plan envisions a tunnel through the Sepulveda Pass, connecting the San Fernando Valley and the Westside along the congested 405 freeway, as well as transit lines extending to the suburbs of Artesia, Claremont, Torrance, Whittier and South El Monte.

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A Trump supporter on his battleground state wins: ‘Now I feel redeemed’

Laura Loomer said she was “jumping up with joy” at Donald Trump’s victories in Florida, Ohio and North Carolina.

“Now I feel redeemed,” said Loomer, 23, a multiplatform journalist wearing a “Hillary for Prison” T-shirt and “Make America Great Again” cap.

“He’s politically incorrect. He’s totally anti-establishment. He’s going to go to Washington and take a sledgehammer to everything, take a sledgehammer to the media,” said Loomer, who is from Westchester County, N.Y.

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Tommy Chong is ready for marijuana to be legal in California

Tommy Chong, the comedian and longtime cannabis activist, is ready for the legalization of marijuana.

His business is ready too. He thinks.

“I’m in the marijuana business so if it passes, which I know it will, it will be around the country in a few years,” he said in a phone call with The Times from Las Vegas. “Then I’ll buy a yacht and retire in the south of France.”

Chong has his own line of marijuana products called Chong’s Choice. (Read the reviews here.)

He isn’t quite sure how the company will jump through all the new legal hoops — the state has until Jan. 1, 2018, to begin issuing retail licenses.

“All the legal stuff, getting it passed through this, that, everything else, you got to get the right lawyer,” he said. “That is how America works.”

Chong said he voted for the proposition and Hillary Clinton. He was a supporter of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders during the primaries.

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Watch California’s returns as they come in

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Arizona votes to raise minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020

Arizona has voted to increase its minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020.

The federal minimum of $7.25 hasn’t changed in seven years. But a total of four states had measures on their ballots Tuesday to push their own minimum wages higher — and one voted on whether to reduce it for some workers.

Colorado and Maine voted on whether to phase in an increase to $12 an hour by 2020. Washington was deciding whether to raise its minimum wage to $13.50. And in South Dakota, voters were considering reducing the minimum wage for workers under 18 to $7.25 from $8.55.

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All eyes turn to California on the death penalty

Death row exonerees at a "Yes on Prop. 62" event in September.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times))

All eyes have turned to California on the death penalty, as voters on Tuesday reinstated the practice in Nebraska and approved constitutional protections for it in Oklahoma.

All three states were seen as possible litmus tests on whether voters still favored the practice, as executions have declined nationwide and public opinion of the punishment has hit a record low in 40 years.

But legal experts said California is the most significant to watch, with nearly 750 inmates awaiting execution, almost double the number in Florida, the state with the second-highest death row population in the country.

California voters are weighing dueling propositions: One to end it (Proposition 62) and another to speed it up (Proposition 66).

With 2,817 of 24,849 precincts reporting, show Proposition 66 ahead, with 52% of voters in support. Proposition 62 has the support 44% of voters.

With 1,937 precincts out of 1,956 reporting in Oklahoma, 66.5% of voters said yes to a state question that will add a new section to the state’s constitution, saying “any method fo execution shall be allowed, unless prohibited by the United States Consitution.” Nearly 34% voted “No.”

In Nebraska, where 573 out of 1,481 precincts have reported, 58.3% of voted to overturn bipartisan legislation that repealed the death penalty.

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Even with 2 weeks of early voting, Utah waits until the bitter end to go to the polls

Evan McMullin supporters in Salt Lake City
Evan McMullin supporters in Salt Lake City
(Rick Bowmer/AP)

The largest county in this state got slammed with voters who decided to cast ballots on Election Day rather than cast ballots during a two-week period of early voting.

That delay left the darling of the never-Trump movement, Evan McMullin, watching returns roll in with his wife while his campaign manager and campaign spokeswoman came out periodically to fire up the crowd of about 200 – many holding small American flags and munching on an array of snacks, from pretzels to a Utah staple, salt water taffy.

“As we sit here in this tense room, the country hangs in the balance,” Campaign Manager Joel Searby said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen yet – and I don’t know what’s going to happen in Utah.

“But I do know one thing; everybody in this room and everybody on our team..has stood up for what is good, right and true and no one can that away from us.”

The delay in getting returns an hour after polls closed here came because only 15,000 people cast early ballots – the rest waiting until Election Day to vote and leading to long lines. Some people reported waiting more than an hour to vote after polls closed.

Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen said in 2012, more than 80,000 people cast early ballots and the rush of last-minute voters left them “slammed.”

“It’s a headscratcher,” she said. “I don’t know what they were all waiting for.”

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This is how the governor will choose a new California attorney general

New U.S. Senator Kamala Harris
(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

With California Atty Gen. Kamala Harris’ election to the U.S. Senate, Gov. Jerry Brown will now appoint her successor.

This is how it will happen:

Under the state Constitution, Brown will make a selection subject to majority approval by both houses of the Legislature. The timing for any decision remains an open question. It’s unclear when Harris will resign her current job — new U.S. senators don’t take office until January. After that, Brown can take as long as he wants. In the interim, the chief deputy attorney general will oversee the more than 4,500 employees in the office. Currently, the chief deputy is Nathan Barankin, a Harris political appointee who previously served as a top staffer in the state Senate.

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Make sure you know how to pronounce the name of your new U.S. senator

(Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press)

California’s next U.S. senator, Kamala Harris, was twice elected statewide as attorney general. But even so, a lot of voters don’t seem to know something pretty basic about her.

They don’t know how to pronounce her first name.

Harris, who easily won the Senate race on Tuesday, is the daughter of a Jamaican American father and a mother who emigrated from India. And she often has found people who mispronounce the name “Kamala.”

She has described it as similar to the word “comma.” And this past spring, Harris’ campaign released a video that offered some advice courtesy of kids.

Harris, who served as San Francisco’s district attorney before her six years as attorney general, has until January to make sure her new colleagues on Capitol Hill have the right pronunciation.

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Donald Trump’s Rust Belt strength narrows Hillary Clinton’s path. Michigan could be decisive

When the first state-by-state exit poll data came in, it looked like Hillary Clinton could make history.

Instead, Clinton’s path to victory is narrowing dramatically as polls close on the West Coast. Donald Trump’s victories in Ohio and Florida put the onus on Clinton to hold her “blue wall” -- Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Based on updated exit poll data combined with actual returns, all four appear to be trending toward Trump in a way that has Democrats very nervous.

Any one of them, with North Carolina now in Trump’s column, could give him the 270 electoral votes he needs to become president.

Clinton still has a lead in Pennsylvania. If she hangs on there - and it is not assured -- Michigan’s 16 electoral votes may make the difference.

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Here’s how people in Mexico watching the returns are feeling about the election right now

Our correspondent Kate Linthicum talked to some people who are watching the returns as eagerly as people in the U.S.

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Lawyers say they received more than 35,000 calls Tuesday to report voting problems

Ballot counters at the Hinsdale, N.H., polling station hand count ballots on Tuesday.
(Kristopher Radder/The Brattleboro Reformer via AP)

While polls closed on election day without reports of major widespread disruptions, civil rights monitors reported getting tens of thousands of calls from voters around the country reporting incidents of intimidation, malfunctioning voting machines, botched ballots, moved polling sites, voter ID troubles and a host of other issues.

The Election Protection coalition, a nonpartisan group made up of dozens of civil rights groups, said it received at least 35,000 calls Tuesday, with 40% of them coming from African Americans and Hispanics.

“The number of complaints as we near the close of election continued to exceed the number of complaints we received in prior election years,” said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which is part of the coalition. “It is clear voter intimidation is something we are wrestling with in this election cycle.”

The graphic below shows states from which the hotline received calls. Hover over a state to see the kinds of issues reported.

Clarke described a “substantial” number of complaints coming from Florida, where incidents included reports of intimidation by “aggressively assembled” people at a polling site in the city of Hollywood, north of Miami. She said that another incident in Jacksonville involved a representative of a political party who was asked to leave a polling site and refused. In Miami, Clarke said another report to the hotline was about a polling official who was not enforcing the legal requirement to have a campaign-free area directly outside of a polling site.

She also said that a significant portion of calls to the hotline came from Pennsylvania, Texas, North Carolina and Arizona.

Clarke said the group received reports of incorrect enforcement of voter ID laws across several states as well as confusion over polling site times and locations. She also said the voting complaints, including malfunctioning machines in dozens of precincts around the country, did not deter voting. Machines were most notably broken in Durham County, N.C., where elections officials extended voting times as a result.

“We did not receive information suggesting people were turned away or any information that voters ultimately did not cast their ballot,” she said.

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Californians vote to legalize recreational use of marijuana in the state

Voters on Tuesday approved Proposition 64, making California the most populous state in the nation to legalize the recreational use of marijuana.

The approval of the ballot measure creates the largest market for marijuana products in the U.S. It comes six years after California voters narrowly rejected a similar measure. Activists said passage would be an important moment in a fight for marijuana legalization across the U.S.

“We are very excited that citizens of California voted to end the failed policy of marijuana prohibition,” said Nate Bradley, executive director of the California Cannabis Industry Assn. “Proposition 64 will allow California to take its rightful place as the center of cannabis innovation, research and development.”

Discouraged law enforcement officials said they will closely monitor implementation of the ballot measure.

“We are, of course, disappointed that the self-serving moneyed interests behind this marijuana business plan prevailed at the cost of public health, safety, and the wellbeing of our communities,” said Chief Ken Corney, president of the California Police Chiefs Assn.

“We will take a thorough look at the flaws in Proposition 64 that will negatively impact public health and safety, such as the initiative’s substandard advertising restrictions and lack of prosecutorial tools for driving under the influence of marijuana, and begin to develop legislative solutions,” Corney added.

Proposition 64 would allow Californians who are 21 and older to possess, transport, buy and use up to an ounce of cannabis for recreational purposes and allow individuals to grow as many as six plants. The measure would also allow retail sales of marijuana and impose a 15% tax.

Although the measure’s passage would immediately allow adults to possess and grow marijuana, there may not be places to legally purchase it for some time.

The measure only allows non-medical marijuana to be sold by state licensed businesses, and it gives the state until Jan. 1, 2018, to begin issuing sales licenses for recreational retailers.

With financial support from former Facebook President Sean Parker and New York hedge fund billionaire George Soros, the campaign was able to raise close to $16 million, about 10 times the money brought in by the opposition.

“It’s disappointing that big marijuana and their millions of out-of-state dollars were able to influence the outcome of these elections,” said former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, an advisor to the opposition group SAM Action. “We will continue to hold this industry accountable, and raise the serious public health and safety issues that will certainly come in the wake of legalization.”

However, Lynne Lyman, of the pro-legalization Drug Policy Alliance, said the ballot measure in California is the “gold standard” for other states should legalize pot.

“The new law focuses on undoing the most egregious harms of marijuana prohibition, which have disproportionately impacted communities of color,” she said, adding it will be “protecting youth by preventing access to marijuana

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom was a leading voice for the campaign, arguing that the national “war on drugs” has failed while disproportionately hurting minority residents and wasting law enforcement resources.

California had led the way 20 years ago by legalizing medical marijuana use in the state.

“I think it’s the beginning of the end of the war on marijuana United States,” Newsom said in an interview Tuesday night. “I think it will have repercussions internationally, particularly in Mexico and Latin America. And there are a million people who tomorrow can begin the process of clearing their records.”

Proposition 64 was opposed by most major law enforcement groups, including the California Assn. of Highway Patrolmen, the Peace Officers Research Assn. of California and the California Police Chiefs Assn.

Opponents cited problems including teen drug abuse and impaired driving experienced where recreational use was previously legalized: Colorado, Alaska, Oregon and Washington.

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Mood is celebratory at Trump election party as he notches battleground wins

(John Locher / Associated Press)

The mood turned celebratory at Donald Trump’s election night party in Manhattan Tuesday, as Fox News anchors on big-screen television monitors announced his victories in the crucial battleground states of Ohio and North Carolina.

The first big roar of cheers filled the hotel ballroom when the Republican presidential nominee was projected the winner of Ohio.

“We think things look really good for us right now,” said Sarah Huckabee, a senior Trump advisor.

“They just called Ohio, and we’re not too far away from them calling Florida – hopefully in our favor — and that puts us on a path for a really, really good night,” she said. “It’s going to be a long night, but I think we’re in for a good night for Donald Trump.”

Moments later, another wave of cheers rolled across the room when Fox announced Trump had won North Carolina. Both Trump and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton had campaigned hard in North Carolina in the campaign’s closing days.

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Joe Arpaio out as Maricopa County sheriff

(Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

Joe Arpaio has lost his seventh bid for Maricopa County sheriff, ending a 23-year reign that generated controversy, lawsuits and accusations of bias against Latinos while emboldening the strong-borders movement in the U.S.

Arpaio, a Republican, lost to Democrat Paul Penzone.

The longtime sheriff had trailed in some polls by double digits.

Arpaio’s loss is a sign of the shifting demographics in Arizona, a traditionally conservative stronghold which has grown more liberal with an influx of Latino and young voters. Ballot measures addressing recreational marijuana and raising the minimum wage were also expected to draw outsize numbers of liberal voters.

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Kamala Harris is elected California’s new U.S. senator

California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

California voters on Tuesday elected the state’s first new U.S. senator in 24 years, and made history in the process.

State Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris won the race, according to the Associated Press, becoming the first black politician in history to represent California in the Senate.

With Harris cemented as the solid front-runner and Democratic Party favorite, challenger Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Orange) embraced the role of the underdog and attempted to stitch together support from Latinos, Republicans and moderates. But hampered by an underfunded campaign and missteps, her effort failed to take hold.

The Harris-Sanchez Senate race was the first major test of California’s “top-two” primary system, an experiment in democracy that California voters approved in 2010 in an effort to reduce the highly partisan influence of the Democratic and Republican parties and give independents and moderates more clout in the political process.

But having two Democrats face off in the general election also may have dampened interest. Perhaps because a Democrat was guaranteed to win no matter the outcome and not sway the overall balance of power in the Senate, the race failed to entice well-heeled donors or deep-pocketed super PACs, unlike other hot Democrat-versus-Republican Senate contests across the nation.

The Senate race also was largely eclipsed by the daily theatrics and turbulence of the nation’s presidential race, leaving up to a third of California voters undecided just months before election day.

Harris, the first woman elected as California attorney general, will succeed Democrat Barbara Boxer, who is retiring after serving four terms in the U.S. Senate.

Harris, the daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica, becomes only the second black woman ever elected to the Senate.

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Rising anxiety at Hillary Clinton’s election night rally

“Are we fired up?” said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo when he stepped to the microphone at Hillary Clinton’s election night party.

The crowd cheered meekly, struggling to mask its own anxiety. The election was not ending with the decisive victory they had wanted. In fact, it might not end with a victory at all.

“It’s looking very iffy right now,” said Makeda Bunsie, 40, a court clerk who lives in New York.

If Clinton lost, Bunsie said she would be “totally devastated.”

“It’s disappointing to know my fellow Americans want this future for us,” she said, a future she described as “apocalyptic.”

She was at the election party with her husband, David Mendoza, 35, who works in a retail store.

“It’s kind of stressful,” he said. Mendoza feared voters were sidetracked by what he described as fake scandals about Clinton.

“It’s just unnerving that people would follow that line of reasoning,” he said.

Former Democratic Party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida congresswoman, said she was “hitting refresh” over and over on her smartphone.

“We’re kind of hanging on the edge of our seat here,” she said.

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Financial markets tumble amid Trump’s surprising election-night performance

Financial markets tumbled Tuesday night, with futures for the Dow Jones industrial average plunging more than 700 points, as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s surprisingly strong performance triggered uncertainty among investors.

Dow futures were off about 4%. Futures also dropped nearly 5% for the Nasdaq and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index as Trump threatened to upset Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and shatter expectations on Wall Street and financial centers around the world.

Stocks were down about 2% in early morning trading across Asia while gold rallied as a safe haven.

The Mexican peso sank about 8.5% to a record low against the dollar amid concerns about a Trump presidency. Trump has promised to build a wall along the U.S. southern border to halt undocumented immigration and rewrite or scrap the two-decade-old North American Free Trade Agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

Trump’s tough talk on trade throughout the campaign – he also opposes the proposed 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership pact with Asian nations – has fueled concerns among investors of a slowdown in global trade and a possible U.S. recession should he be elected president.

U.S. markets were down all last week after Trump’s prospects improved following FBI Director James Comey’s announcement that the agency was reviewing new emails connected to Clinton. Comey’s statement Sunday that the new emails produced nothing to cause the bureau to recommend charges against Clinton led the Dow to surge 371 points on Monday as Trump’s presidential prospects appeared to take a hit.

But Trump’s strong showing Tuesday in key battleground states such as Florida and Michigan caused a new round of investor fears in the U.S. and abroad. Japan’s Nikkei index was down 2.2% in early trading while Australia’s ASX 200 index was off about 2.8%. Australia and Japan are two of the nations in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact.

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Oklahoma passes measure to safeguard death penalty

(Sue Ogrocki / Associated Press)

After two years of controversy over the state’s execution procedures, Oklahoma voters issued a strong show of support for the death penalty on Tuesday.

State Question 776 passed with 66% of voters in support of the measure. It amends the state constitution to give state lawmakers more power to change the state’s execution methods if those execution methods are ruled invalid.

Critics of the measure said it did little to change the legislature’s existing powers.

The future of the death penalty had been in doubt in Oklahoma since the botched 2014 execution of Clayton Lockett, which led to intense scrutiny into the state’s procedures.

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In Colorado, voters approve assisted suicide for terminally ill

(Marc Piscotty / Getty Images)

Coloradans have decided that terminally ill patients should be allowed to end their lives with the assistance of a physician.

The state joins five others, including California, with so-called “death with dignity” laws that grant terminally diagnosed patients the right to take life-ending, doctor-prescribed sleeping medication.

In recent years, Democrats in the state Legislature had attempted to pass legislation allowing for assisted suicide, but were rejected by Republicans in the split Legislature.

Opposition to the measure came mostly from religious groups.

Colorado, which has an electorate that is roughly evenly divided among Republicans, Democrats and unaffiliated voters, has tilted much more liberal in recent years. In 2012, voters approved Amendment 64, which legalized marijuana for recreational use – making Colorado among the first states in the country to do so.

Other measures on the Colorado ballot include raising the minimum wage and universal healthcare.

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Not a lot of people happy at California Democratic Party headquarters in Sacramento

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In California, if you’re in line at the polls by 8 p.m., you can vote

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Republican Richard Burr holds on to Senate seat in North Carolina

North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr defeated Democrat Deborah Ross, pushing back a tough challenge in the rapidly changing state that could have cut into his party’s hold on the Senate.

The two-term senator, who is chairman of the Intelligence Committee, should have had an easy reelection bid. But Burr ran a lackluster campaign and kept a relatively low profile despite the demographic shifts that have turned the Tar Heel state into a key presidential battleground.

The bid by Ross, a former state Assembly member, was always a long shot. Few thought that a Deep South state was ready to elect a onetime ACLU executive. But she proved to be a strong politician and crisscrossed the state tapping into the diversifying electorate for support.

Democrats poured in money and resources as part of a coordinated effort with Hillary Clinton’s team to elect Democrats down-ballot. Outside groups on both sides piled on.

Republicans struggled to mount a similar effort as the party split over Donald Trump’s candidacy, and focused more intently on the Republican governor’s reelection. Burr’s race did not gain much attention, but he survived.

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Yes, this really could be a late night

By this point in election night in 2012, President Obama had been declared the winner in Pennsylvania. Mitt Romney had been declared the winner in North Carolina.

Neither state has been called so far tonight, nor has just about any other state that will be key to winning the White House.

On balance, it’s more cause for apprehension for Democrats than Republicans as they had expected some of their blue firewall states — Pennsylvania and Michigan among them — to be squared away. Perhaps Virginia as well, which at least is trending late toward Hillary Clinton.

Add Iowa and Nevada now to the too-close-to-call list at this hour, as the polls have closed in those key states. Utah, the state where a third-party candidate is a real player, is also undeclared so far.

Hang on to your hats, everyone. This could be a late night.

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Will it be a pretty picture for Hillary Clinton? This artist hopes so.

Mark McMahon stood near the back of the crowd at Hillary Clinton’s election night party, balancing an oversized sketchpad on a metal railing as he drew the scene in front of him.

The freelance artist from Illinois has a cousin who attended school with Clinton in the Chicago area when they were growing up.

The clock had just struck 10 p.m. on the East Coast, and McMahon was somewhat unnerved by the election results rolling in.

“I thought it was going to be a done deal early,” he said. “I can’t believe it’s as close as it is.”

McMahon pulled out a color drawing he completed at the Democratic National Convention. Red, white and blue balloons showered Clinton onstage as she became the first female candidate for a major political party.

Would his drawing from election night depict as happy a scene?

“I think so,” he said.

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How will the vote tally go in L.A. tonight? Slow or slower?

Vote-by-mail ballots are counted in 2008 at the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's office.
(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

One thing is virtually certain: The vote counting will go slow.

This is, after all, Los Angeles County -- the nation’s largest. The county is so vast that helicopters will be hauling in ballots from all around -- the Westside, the South Bay, and the Antelope and Pomona valleys -- before dumping ballots in Norwalk, in the southeastern area of the county.

Here’s a rough timeline of how the vote will go on:

Between 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.: The first results from early votes and vote-by-mail ballots are likely to be released by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.

Then the waiting begins. And no new results are expected for an hour or two. It could be sometime between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. when the next round of votes starts be released.

In some past elections, dense fog has complicated the helicopters’ journeys. But Tuesday’s forecast looks promising: Election night is forecast to be mostly clear.

9:30 p.m. or so: Roughly by this time, the tabulation becomes extremely busy, with a flurry of activity at the registrar’s office through midnight. Results will be broadcast live on the county registrar’s website, usually twice an hour. Counting can remain busy until 2 a.m. or 3 a.m.; and workers were present until 5:30 a.m. for the June primary election.

But that’s not the end of it. There will still be a significant percentage of ballots left to be counted in the coming weeks, as county workers sift through vote-by-mail ballots and provisional ballots, and check whether signatures on the ballot envelopes match the ones on voter registration forms. These final votes can be decisive in close contests.

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A look inside Donald Trump’s watch party

The election is a tight one so far, with Donald Trump giving a stronger-than-anticipated showing against Hillary Clinton. As returns continued to roll in, @realDonaldTrump posted a photo of the candidate watching the results with his family and his vice presidential candidate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, inside Trump Tower in New York City.

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Exit polls: California Latino turnout could break a record — here’s how they voted

First time voter Sonia Orea points to her sticker after voting in Boyle Heights.
(Frederic J. Brown / Getty Images)

Latinos make up 39% of the population in California, and this election they have come out to vote in record numbers.

Exit polls suggest that 31% of the electorate was Latino. That would make them the largest ethnic (nonwhite) group to hit the polls.

One-fifth of all Latino voters said this was their first time voting, and 57% of them were women.

Here’s a rundown of how they voted and the issues they cared about on election day:

Latinos love Clinton: Hispanic voters favored Clinton over Trump by a wide margin. Seventy-one percent of the Latino vote went for Clinton, compared with just 22% for Trump.

L.A. Latinos really love Clinton: Here in the City of Angels, 78% of Latino voters cast their ballot for Clinton.

Split on the Senate seat: Latinos preferred Loretta Sanchez to Kamala Harris by a slim margin of 53% to 45%. Harris, who the AP has projected will take the seat, won handily among all other racial groups.

Most worried about ... the economy? When asked which of four issues were most important to them, 43% said the economy. This was followed by terrorism (23%), immigration (21%) and foreign policy (10%).

Mostly ‘yes’ on 64: On the question of legalizing marijuana, 57% of Latinos said they voted yes. That’s about the same as all other racial groups.

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Nervous Democrats look again for northern Virginia comeback

Close followers of Virginia politics know the pattern: A Republican jumps out to a lead, and then the Democrat claws back based on slower vote counts in the counties near Washington.

That’s what Hillary Clinton’s campaign is counting on as Donald Trump holds a lead in the state.

We said that the longer it took for a call in Virginia and the shorter the call in Georgia, the better the night for Trump. Neither state has been called, but few Democrats thought Virginia would be this tight in the home state of Sen. Tim Kaine, Clinton’s running mate.

About a fifth of the vote remained outstanding in Fairfax County, where Kaine campaigned Monday night with Vice President Joe Biden, and where the Democratic ticket was performing strongly. But there were also scattered Republican-leaning counties with votes coming in too.

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If the 46th Congressional District doesn’t work out, Lou Correa could run for state attorney general

(Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)

Is it too early to be thinking about 2018? Lou Correa doesn’t think so.

The 58-year-old is locked in an intraparty battle against fellow Democrat Bao Nguyen to replace outgoing Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Orange).

But if that doesn’t work out, Correa still has money stashed away for a rainy-day run in 2018. Correa has $389,651 in a fundraising account for a possible run for state attorney general, a post Kamala Harris currently holds.

He has not raised funds for the attorney general account all year, instead collecting $845,400 in his race against Nguyen.

If Harris wins the U.S. Senate race, Gov. Jerry Brown will need to appoint a replacement to serve out the rest of her term until 2018, when races for all of California’s statewide offices will occur.

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Exit polls: California voters on Trump, Clinton and some seriously high anxiety

Exit poll results from the Associated Press.

Here’s a video compilation highlighting some of the data collected in exit polls across the state.

Among the findings in the Democratic leaning state: 72% of voters in California said they view Trump unfavorably, 83% said Trump’s treatment of women bother them a lot or some, and 69% said they would feel scared or concerned if Trump was elected president.

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A Texas man arrested on suspicion of voting fraud said he worked for Trump and was testing the system

There was little evidence of major voting fraud Tuesday, but a Texas county near Houston reported arresting a man on suspicion attempted fraud, adding to a handful of fraud-related arrests around the country in recent weeks.

According to the Sheriff’s Office in Fort Bend County, the man claimed to be testing the system.

“What’s interesting is that he said he was working for [Donald] Trump,” said Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls.

Nehls named the man as Phillip Cook Jr., 62, of Richmond, Texas, and said he was unable to confirm whether Cook really worked for Republican presidential candidate Trump or his campaign. Nehls said he did not have information on where Cook first voted but said the second attempt was at a Baptist church.

“This is the first time I’ve seen this as sheriff. You hear of things like this taking place around the country, but I had never seen it,” Nehls said. “I said that we better place him under arrest and book him into the jail because you start compromising the integrity of the election by attempting to vote twice and we are not going to have that.”

The sheriff did not say for whom Cook had voted.

Although voting fraud is rare -- one study found just 31 credible claims of fraud amid more than 1 billion ballots cast since 2000 -- there were several allegations of fraud Tuesday and there have been a handful of arrests during the election.

In the weeks before election day, police had filed voting fraud charges against individuals in Florida, Virginia and Iowa.

In Florida, officials arrested a 74-year-old woman Oct. 28 on suspicion of tampering with absentee ballots at the Miami-Dade County Elections Department while working as a absentee ballot opener. In an unrelated case on the same day, a 33-year-old man was arrested in Florida and charged with submitted false voter registration information while working on a medical marijuana legalization effort.

Also on Oct. 28, a 30-year-old Virginia man was arrested on suspicion of submitting falsified voter forms while working on a registration project.

In Des Moines, a 55-year-old woman was arrested Oct. 27 on suspicion voting at two polling sites. Police also said they have suspected two other people in the area of voting both by mail and in person.

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Trump, Pence and the families watch the returns

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Florida to become first Southern state with a full-scale medical marijuana program

The Associated Press is projecting that voters in Florida have approved a state constitutional amendment allowing the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

With its “yes” vote, Florida will become the first state in the South with a full-scale medical marijuana program.

It was one of nine states that voted on proposals to expand legal access to the drug, which is still prohibited by the federal government. Supporters hope votes like the one in Florida will help change the conversation in Washington.

“It looks like medical cannabis will get more votes tonight than whoever ends up winning the presidential and U.S. Senate races, and that shows just how mainstream this issue has become,” said Tom Angell, chairman of Marijuana Majority.

Opponents have likened the legalization effort to “Big Tobacco,” characterizing it as an attempt to prioritize corporate profits over public health.

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Democrat Jim Justice wins governor’s race in West Virginia

Democratic candidate Jim Justice.
(Tyler Evert/Associated Press)

Democrat Jim Justice won the governor’s race in West Virginia – but the coal executive had emphatically distanced himself from Hillary Clinton.

Republicans had hoped that their nominee, Bill Cole, who had served as president of the state Senate, would reap the benefit of Donald Trump’s popularity in the state and put the governor’s seat in their column.

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Despite voting machine glitches, Colorado polls close on time

(Marc Piscotty/Getty Images)

Despite a last-minute effort by Colorado Democrats to expand voting hours, polls closed in the state at their normal time.

A Denver district court judge ruled late Tuesday that polls in Colorado would close at 7 p.m. Mountain time, even after the state’s voter registration system went down for nearly 30 minutes this afternoon.

The state’s Democratic Party insisted the outage had dismayed voters enough that they would not cast a ballot.

Colorado allows same-day voter registration, which traditionally helps Democrats, who often eschew casting ballots early and wait until election day. In early voting, Republicans outpaced Republicans by 18,600 votes as of early Tuesday.

The state, which has 9 electoral votes, is a perennial battleground. President Obama won close battles there in 2008 and 2012.

For several weeks, Hillary Clinton has held a narrow lead over Donald Trump in the state. Colorado, Nevada and Arizona are the major battleground states in the West.

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In this North Carolina bar, the battle is between Fox and CNN (and it’s not close)

Voters watch election returns at the Selwyn Avenue Pub in Charlotte, N.C.
(Jenny Jarvie / For the Los Angeles Times)

The divisions that played out at the polls Tuesday continued later at the Selwyn Avenue Pub in Charlotte, where different political factions camped out on opposite sections of the patio, glued to competing TV screens.

“We had a hard time finding a bar that would even broadcast the action,” said Laura Heiser, a 40-something who moved to Charlotte from Oregon a year ago, and was huddled next to a fire pit with a plastic glass of New Moon beer. “When we came in here, Fox was on every station.”

When Heiser and her sister arrived at the laid back sports bar in Myers Park, an affluent Charlotte suburb, they asked the bartender to switch one of the giant patio screens to CNN. He obliged, only to refuse to turn the sound on because it was a sports bar.

“This is just very different to me,” Laura said as she looked around the room. “I’m used to living in this Democrat bubble and it’s neck and neck here.”

“It’s very slanted,” Laura, who works as development director for non-profit Sustain Charlotte, said as she looked back disapprovingly at the row of Fox News screens. Eventually, the volume on the Fox station – but not CNN - was turned up. “I’m not surprised. I just don’t like it. We got together to watch, but no one’s really watching it.”

“I’m kind of used to it, but I don’t like it either,” sighed her sister, Rachel Prestie, 45, who has lived in Charlotte for more than 15 years. “In the South, politics is just not out in the open. People don’t want to be controversial.”

In North Carolina, one of the nation’s tightest battleground states, many were on edge as they watched the election results come in. In 2008, then-Sen. Barack Obama won the state over Republican Sen. John McCain by just 13,692 votes, only for the state to swing back to the Republicans in 2012 when Mitt Romney beat Obama by 97,465 votes.

“I’m nervous,” Rachel admitted. “I work in a hospital, with occupational therapists who are smart people, and it’s 50-50 between Clinton and Trump.”

“I’m not,” Laura said firmly. “Hillary is going to win. He has to win every swing state and turn a red state to blue.”

Eventually, the women left -- Laura to watch the results at a private party with liberal friends and Rachel to monitor at home with family.

No one took their seats to watch CNN.

A few minutes after they left, Fox broke news that Trump had won Mississippi. Loud cheers erupted from the Fox corner.

“Go Trump, go!” a man in a red jacket hollered. “Come on, rednecks. Let’s go!”

“Look, no one is watching CNN,” one of his friends observed. “That’s kinda awesome.”

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Fun with maps

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Republican Eric Holcomb wins governor’s race in Indiana

Indiana Republican gubanatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb.
(Paige Mallory Passman/The Elkhart Truth via Associated Press)

Republican Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb won the governor’s race in Indiana, having stepped in after Republican Gov. Mike Pence joined Donald Trump’s ticket.

Holcomb defeated Democrat John Gregg, the state House speaker who had lost the gubernatorial race in 2012 to Pence.

Polls had initially put Gregg ahead of Holcomb, but the race tightened in the final days and had appeared a toss-up heading into Tuesday’s vote.

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A tense election night continues, with big prizes still on the table for Trump and Clinton

The polls are now closed in states stretching into the Mountain West, with two of the biggest electoral prizes falling into traditional blue and red columns: New York (29 electoral votes) for Hillary Clinton; Texas (38 electoral votes) for Donald Trump.

No major battleground state has yet to be awarded. Colorado, Arizona, Wisconsin and Minnesota joined the “too close to call” category at this hour.

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Last-minute canvassing for Democrat Ro Khanna in contentious race against San Jose Rep. Mike Honda

Democratic congressional candidate Ro Khanna hit the pavement Tuesday, canvassing homes with just hours left until polls close.

Khanna’s rematch against fellow Rep. Mike Honda (D-San Jose) is expected to be close. In 2014, Khanna lost by just three points, and he received 2,200 more votes than the incumbent in the June primary this year.

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Hillary Clinton’s granddaughter is dressed for victory

Hillary Clinton’s campaign is known for its attention to the tiniest details, and on election night that extended to her granddaughter’s outfit.

A campaign aide told reporters that 2-year-old Charlotte was wearing a “very adorable Hillary-themed dress,” complete with Clinton’s “H” logo.

Clinton and her family have been watching the results roll in at the Peninsula, a Manhattan hotel, while snacking on salmon, roasted carrots, vegan pizza and french fries.

She’s also been working on her speech for when the results are announced, huddling with speechwriters and advisors, as well as her husband.

Clinton’s running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, is with his family at a different hotel in Manhattan, and plans to meet Clinton later at the Javits Center, where supporters have been gathering for an election night party.

None of the most hotly anticipated battleground states, including Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio, have been called for either Clinton or Donald Trump. But Clinton’s staff said they believed she was on track.

“We felt confident this morning and into the afternoon,” the campaign aide said. “Nothing has changed that.”

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Waiting to vote in Utah: ‘I’m going to write in my wife. She’s more qualified’

Independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin at the One Man Band Diner in Lehi, Utah.
Independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin at the One Man Band Diner in Lehi, Utah.
(Rick Bowmer/AP)

The wait to vote before polls closed was about an hour at the Salt Lake County building, with lines snaking through the building.

Bill Kotowski had been stuck in it for 45 minutes – with his 2-year-old daughter on his shoulders.

“She’s getting a little squirrely,” Kotowski said. “But she’s holding up better than I thought.”

The 34-year-old said he knew who he was voting for on all the races beneath the presidential line.

But that top one had vexed him for months.

Finally, he decided in line that there was only one thing to do – and that was to not vote for Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump or Evan McMullin.

”I’m going to write in my wife,” he said. “She’s more qualified and she pretty much runs things anyway.”

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Mindy Kaling, Patton Oswalt, Ice Cube, Scott Baio and more celebs show off their ‘I Voted’ stickers

Voting may be a private act, but that doesn’t stop tens of thousands of people from sharing photo evidence of them doing their civic duty on social media (even if they’re breaking the law in the process).

As it turns out, celebrities are people too, and they showed up in bulk, both at the polls and online to throw their democracy in your face.

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Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist wins a Florida house seat

(Chris O’Meara / Associated Press)

Mounting a successful political comeback, Charlie Crist won a Florida congressional seat on Tuesday as a Democrat.

Crist had been expected to beat the incumbent, Republican David Jolly, because of redistricting that made the western district more Democratic.

The seat was on Democrats’ wish list to cut into the GOP lead in the House of Representatives.

But the race drew scrutiny because Crist was a Republican for most of his political career, including as governor of Florida from 2007 to 2011.

In 2010, he ran as a Republican for the U.S. Senate. After Marco Rubio overtook him in the polls, Christ switched and ran as an independent and lost.

In 2012, Crist switched again and registered as a Democrat. He ran for governor two years later and narrowly lost.

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The pantsuits have organized

Hillary Clinton’s vast collection of pantsuits has long been a point of conversation in the political world, with some marveling at how she seems to have a suit in every imaginable color.

But what once may have been a point of mockery has grown into a certified movement, with a self-named “Pantsuit Nation” rising around the first female nominee for president from a major party.

Nearly 2 million individuals have joined a private Facebook group named Pantsuit Nation that was founded just 18 days ago, a space where people are free to share enthusiasm for the candidate.

If glomming onto pantsuits of all things seems ridiculous, think about this tweet from singer-songwriter Roseanne Cash, who pointed out that it was 1993 before women were allowed to wear pants on the Senate floor.

So the enthusiasm around pantsuits springs from a lot of places, some Clinton-related, some merely grateful at the recent strides that women have made in the political sphere.

Some women are even combining two symbolic trends, by wearing white pantsuits, a nod to Clinton, but also to the suffragette leaders who won the right to vote for women, who often wore white.

Regardless of politics, Pantsuit Nation made turning out to the polls look good.

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Watch: This is where things stand in the electoral college count

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Mariachi band performs outside Trump Tower

Who’s to say whether this mariachi band performing outside of Trump Tower is some kind of protest, a wry musical rejoinder to the “taco trucks on every corner” comment back in September that went viral or simply a wayward group of mariachi musicians who missed the subway stop for their concert venue and opted to give a show to passersby. In Manhattan, outside Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s base of operation. On election day.

Either way, there’s video of the moment and for 39 festive, brassy seconds, we are only left to wonder. Concert protest? Or random act of mariachi magic?

The polls close in California at 8 p.m. The coincidences (or otherwise) can keep stacking up until then.

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‘Please, please, please’: Frustrated by gridlock, some Angelenos plead for transit funding

(Lorena Iniguez / Los Angeles Times)

Patrick Janssen is originally from Kansas. But he has learned to tell time by Los Angeles metrics.

He has lived in L.A. for eight years — long enough, the sound mixer says, “to spend a year in traffic.”

So, after voting in favor of Measure M on Tuesday, Janssen issued a plea to his fellow voters.

“Any attempt to improve transit in this city — please, please, please,” the Los Feliz resident said. “It’s my least favorite thing about this city.”

Measure M, a half-cent sales tax increase that would nearly double the length of the county’s rail network, also has the support of Jenna Bryant.

The 26-year-old film student moved to L.A. from New York City three and a half years ago and found the local subway network to be a come down.

“It’s not the most efficient system,” Bryant said. “I’ve had a lot of trouble getting where I need to be in a timely fashion.”

If there’s anyone in Los Angeles who can appreciate the need for public transit funding, it’s Frederick Alexander. He is 58, has never driven and has gotten around on public transportation his entire life.

“I’m a rare bird in Los Angeles,” said Alexander, who works in sales, lives in Hollywood and voted for Measure M.

A bad driving experience in high school left its mark.

“The older I get,” Alexander said, “the more afraid I am of being behind the wheel.”

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Electoral vote tallies climb for both candidates with latest poll closings

It’s a big hour for projections, with most states playing according to type.

For Hillary Clinton: Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey

For Donald Trump: Oklahoma so far, with other solidly red states likely to follow.

The key states to watch that are now fully closed are New Hampshire, Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Not to be overlooked: whether Trump can pick off an electoral vote from typically blue Maine. He could win in the state’s 2nd Congressional District.

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President Obama: ‘The sun will rise in the morning’

(Gerry Broome / Associated Press)

President Obama has a message to Americans: The sun will, in fact, come out tomorrow.

In an election night message he recorded for BuzzFeed News, Obama sought to sooth any angst among voters as they cast ballots on Tuesday after what’s been a contentious presidential race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

“This has been an exhausting, stressful and sometimes downright weird election for all of us,” Obama said. “We’ve been through tough and divisive elections before and we’ve always come out stronger for it.”

In recent weeks, Obama has hit the trail for Clinton in several battleground states. On Monday, Obama, joined by his wife, Michelle, campaigned alongside Clinton in Philadelphia.

“Whether your chosen candidates win or lose tonight, let’s all agree, not only to stay engaged, but to push ourselves to do even better,” he said.

In closing, he added, “no matter what happens, the sun will rise in the morning.”

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#TrumpCake is the election day meme we can’t quit

The gigantic frosted bust is of presidential candidate Donald Trump, and it’s making sugary waves on the Internet. A fairly large re-creation of Trump’s head, made entirely out of cake, appeared outside of Trump Tower in New York City on election day.

The cake oddity was swiftly carted off, but its sweet legacy shall live on forever thanks to the Internet and the folks who promptly turned #TrumpCake into a meme.

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For close races, what will we know by the end of tonight?

Votes are counted in 2014.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

For close races, there may be precious little we can say definitively tonight.

The reason? Election officials must still count vote-by-mail ballots and provisional ballots, whose signatures must be matched to voter registration forms. It can take weeks to count them all.

Those votes can be decisive.

Recall the nail-biter of an election in 2008 in Silicon Valley, where Santa Clara County voters decided the fate of a proposed sales tax increase to bring the BART rail system to San Jose.

The day after the election, the vote for Measure B total came in at 66.27% -- shy of the two-thirds requirement, or 66.67%, threshold. Three days after the election, it was 66.44% -- still short. A newspaper headline the next day read, “BART tax appears headed to defeat.” At that point, about 93% of the vote had been counted, and there were still about 45,000 ballots to tally.

Then, in a stunning development, late-counted votes surged dramatically in favor of the tax, with more than 7 out of 10 of them backing the tax hike. It would take 10 more days for the “yes” side to pass the two-thirds threshold.

By the end of the count, 66.78% of voters approved of the tax, and mass transit backers celebrated an improbable victory.

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Cyber vulnerability briefly allowed users to manipulate Trump’s website

A security vulnerability discovered in Donald Trump’s website Tuesday night briefly allowed users to publish whatever they wanted on a section of his website.

It worked like this: By adding a few words of text – whatever you wanted – to his website’s URL, those words would appear at the top of the site. (Think of it as being able to write your own headlines for stories on latimes.com and share them.) The glitch wasn’t a big one: The changes would not be visible to users coming to www.donaldjtrump.com, only to users who had created their own URLs.

Twitter users had some fun with the glitch.

The vulnerability appeared to be patched up soon after going viral.

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New Hampshire may offer clues of a ‘Comey Effect’ in presidential race

If you’re looking for a sign of any “Comey Effect” — voters shifting from Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump after the eleventh-hour bombshell from the FBI reviving the Clinton email saga – the canary in the coal mine could be New Hampshire, where all polls are now closed.

Unlike most of the other top bellwethers, most of the votes will have been cast on election day – usually 95% or more. New Hampshire voters already have a reputation for last-minute swings. Before FBI Director James B. Comey’s letter to lawmakers was made public late last month, polls seemed to show a comfortable Clinton advantage. But both candidates were here in the final days, as was President Obama on Monday.

Though it awards only four electoral votes, those could be enough to swing a close election. Just ask Al Gore. The state was called fairly early in 2008 and 2012 for Obama. It could take longer now.

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We asked TV writers from ‘Designated Survivor’ to ‘Veep’: Could you have scripted an election like this?

With its seemingly daily plot twists, cliffhangers and quirky side characters, the presidential election has given new meaning to must-see TV.

We spoke to show runners of politically themed TV shows to get their thoughts on how real life is stacking up against fiction: Barbara Hall of CBS’ “Madam Secretary,” about a former CIA analyst and professor (Tea Leoni) who is thrust into the position of secretary of State (a role inspired by Hillary Clinton); David Mandel of HBO’s “Veep,” a political satire that tracks the political career of narcissist Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who briefly becomes president; and Jon Harmon Feldman of ABC’s “Designated Survivor,” about a low-level Cabinet member (Kiefer Sutherland) who becomes president after a catastrophic attack kills everyone above him in the line of succession.

I’m not nearly that imaginative. Even if we were trying to go for something with this kind of tone, we couldn’t have scripted this.

— Barbara Hall of CBS’ “Madam Secretary”

Most likely we’d all be fired if we wrote a 10th of what has happened thus far. In some ways, this year’s election has become some sort of insane single-camera comedy. It comes complete with guest roles, like Ken Bone. 

— David Mandel of HBO’s “Veep,”

I don’t think that we could have scripted it and had a reaction other than skepticism that anything could play out like this or anyone could behave like this. I think critics would have found it preposterous.

— Jon Harmon Feldman of ABC’s “Designated Survivor,”

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‘I see it every day’: L.A. voters grapple with homelessness issue

Tents line the sidewalks along 5th Street in L.A.'s skid row earlier this year.
Tents line the sidewalks along 5th Street in L.A.’s skid row earlier this year.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Although much of the chatter Tuesday revolved around Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, Angel Hubert of Hyde Park said she was drawn to the polls by a local measure.

The 47-year-old said she had lived on the streets of Pasadena for 15 years. And now that she has a place to call home, she’s dismayed that lawmakers have not done more to house those in need.

So Hubert voted for Proposition HHH, a general obligation bond that would raise money to build housing for chronically homeless people — and urged others to do the same.

“Use our taxpayer money to put these homeless people in places,” she said.

Across town, Leslie Foster, 32, went to the 7th Day Adventist Church in Hollywood to cast his vote in favor of the homeless housing bond measure. The filmmaker said he used to work as a janitor at the church.

“I think it will make a difference,” he said of Proposition HHH. “Hopefully people will see the wisdom of having housing in different places.”

A few hundred feet from the voting booths, two young homeless women sat in the shade at the edge of the parking lot.

“I see it every day,” said Jennifer Laughlin, 35, of Los Feliz, who also said she voted for HHH. “It’s very sad to see people who don’t have a place to go.”

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L.A. County registrar tries to ease voters’ concerns over fraud, suppression

People started arriving at 3:30 a.m. to take part in early voting at the L.A. County registrar of voters office in Norwalk.
(Mark Boster/ Los Angeles Times)

The Los Angeles County registrar sought to ease voters’ concerns over of fraud and suppression at the polls Tuesday.

As quickly as tweets and calls were made over missing pens, misaddressed ballots and inoperable machines, the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk sent employees to address problems around the county, Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan said.

“As they’re reported, we have field staff go out and correct those,” Logan said.

At some polling locations, the machines that take in completed ballots stopped working.

“The most important thing for voters to know is that those devices at polling places do not count the votes,” Logan said, noting ballots are not counted until they’re delivered to the Norwalk office at the end of the day. “It is standard practice that if those devices go down, the voting continues.”

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North Carolina, New Hampshire officials extend poll hours after voting issues

In North Carolina, where voting machines glitches were reported in several counties, the state’s elections board decided Tuesday evening to extend polling hours by 20 to 60 minutes at eight precincts in Durham County, which had experienced the most widespread machine issues in the state.

The elections board also said it would keep one polling site in Columbus County open by an extra 30 minutes. Polls were originally scheduled to close at 7:30 p.m.

In Dover, N.H., elections officials said they would extend voting until 8 p.m. The decision came in response to a request from Democrats, after an email was sent to about 250 residents with the wrong information about the poll closing time.

Isolated polling machine issues were reported at polling places earlier Tuesday in several states, including Virginia, Texas, New York, Kentucky and Utah. Malfunctions, which are common, were quickly handled at most sites by letting voters use paper ballots while machines were fixed.

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A view of where Hillary Clinton will hold her election night party

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West Virginia goes for Trump, while long vote counts begin in North Carolina and Ohio

Donald Trump, as expected, is the projected winner in West Virginia as polls closed there. It’s too early to call in the other states closing at the bottom of the hour: Ohio and North Carolina, two of the night’s biggest battleground states.

Hillary Clinton ended her campaign in Raleigh after midnight. Her campaign thinks North Carolina could be so close that a winner might not be declared for days.

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47% of Californians trust Clinton, just 17.2% trust Trump

Hillary Clinton has battled issues of trustworthiness throughout her presidential campaign, but in California more than twice as many voters see her as trustworthy compared with those who feel the same way about Donald Trump.

Early exit polls conducted by Edison Research found 47.2% of voters agreed that Clinton is an honest and trustworthy candidate. Just 17.2% said the same of Trump.

But nearly a third of California voters (30.7%) said they don’t trust either candidate. Just 1.9% said they trust both.

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Republican Sen. Rob Portman cruises to reelection in Ohio

(John Minchillo / Associated Press)

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman cruised to reelection on Tuesday, beating Democratic Ted Strickland in one of the few lopsided Senate races in a battleground state.

Democrats initially had high hopes of defeating Portman, but Strickland failed to raise money, faced a barrage of critical advertising by outside groups and lost the working-class white voters who had been his base.

In addition to Portman’s financial advantage over Strickland, the incumbent proved better than many GOP candidates at separating himself from Donald Trump without alienating the Republican presidential nominee’s supporters.

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Most of the polls have closed in Florida, but not all of them

It’s that time: Florida, Florida, Florida, as the late Tim Russert would say.

Well, the Panhandle counties are still voting for another hour, so let’s call it Florida, Florida.

But there was such a high volume of early voting in the state, with nearly 6.5 million votes cast before election day, that at 5 p.m. Pacific time, we could quickly get a feel for whether Clinton will win the state, and probably with it, the presidency.

Democrats believed that although Clinton had multiple paths to victory, the surest way to cut Donald Trump off was to lock this state up.

Democrats were especially bullish about turnout in Broward County, where Fort Lauderdale is. President Obama won a more than 250,000-vote plurality there in 2012, more than his statewide margin of victory, and the 2016 turnout appeared to have exceeded 2012 levels.

It’s unlikely Clinton could hit 270 electoral votes until the West Coast polls close in four hours. But if she posts the strong numbers Democrats predict she will in key counties here – Miami-Dade and Broward in south Florida, and the key swing counties along the Interstate 4 corridor in central Florida – she could build an insurmountable lead.

Clinton campaigned in Florida multiple times last week. Obama was also there Sunday on the final day of early voting.

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The first statewide presidential race projections offer few surprises

Indiana and Kentucky go to Donald Trump, according to Associated Press projections, giving the Republican 19 electoral votes to start off the night.

Vermont remained safely in the Democratic column, awarding Hillary Clinton its three electoral votes.

The initial projections offered no surprises. Other key states that closed at the top of the hour — Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia — did not have enough results to call.

A key indicator for election night will be Georgia. It has been reliably Republican but emerged as a potential battleground this cycle. If it remains uncalled late into the night, that bodes ill for Trump.

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Our first presidential race calls of the night: Expected results in Vermont, Kentucky and Indiana

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When red meant Democratic and blue was Republican. A brief history of TV electoral maps

TV news versions of the electoral map have become a living tool for on-air analysts since debuting in 1976, when red represented Democrat and blue meant Republican.

The map has also become a symbol of political division in the country.

But while red and blue states are now part of our political lexicon, the concept was born out of a competition for ratings.

Now we’ve become accustomed to seeing visuals crawling across the lower third of the screen and everything else that was going on. This was a first step. You could draw your own conclusion on how things were evolving without the anchors having to utter a word.

— Douglas Manning, whose father Gordon is credited with devising the map

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Indiana was a 2008 surprise for Democrats. Probably not this year

(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

When Sen. Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, Indiana was one of several traditionally Republican states that he secured.

So why haven’t Democrats been competitive there since, and what would it take for Hillary Clinton to put it in the battleground column again?

I asked former Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh that question in June as Clinton was set to travel to Indianapolis to address a conference of mayors from across the country.

He chalked up Obama’s win to what he called a “unique set of circumstances”: an unusually lengthy Democratic primary battle that included a late battle for Indiana; Obama’s hometown of Chicago, across the state line from Gary, Ind., in the northwest corner of the state; and ad spending there by Obama’s campaign while his opponent, Republican nominee John McCain, largely ignored the state.

“She needs continue monitoring Indiana and we’ll see,” Bayh said in June.

Weeks later, though, Bayh had a surprise of his own: He would run for the Senate seat he had given up six years before. And soon after that, Donald Trump named Indiana’s governor, Mike Pence, as his running mate.

Trump seemed to have the state in hand, based on early data. Bayh’s fate was far from certain in a tight race against Rep. Todd Young.

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This woman flew 2,597 miles across the country just so she could vote

When it dawned on Arohi Sharma, 26, last week that she wouldn’t be able to cast her vote in the 2016 presidential election, she was devastated.

Sharma, a second-year graduate student at the Harvard Kennedy School, had mailed her vote-by-mail application to the Los Angeles County registrar’s office Oct. 24, but because it was lost in the mail or not recorded, she was told she wouldn’t be able to request an absentee ballot in time to vote.

For Sharma, a native Californian, participating in this election was more than a civic duty. It was writing history. She had only one option left: fly from Cambridge, Mass., back to Los Angeles so that she could cast her ballot during early voting.

So that’s what she did. On Saturday, Sharma boarded her 7:30 a.m. flight and landed in Los Angeles more than 5 hours later.

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Former President George W. Bush didn’t vote for Donald Trump

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Add former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, to the list of Republicans officially not supporting Donald Trump.

A spokesman for the Bushes told the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that they cast ballots in Texas two weeks ago and did not vote for Trump or Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee. The spokesman declined to say whether they voted for a third-party or write-in candidate.

For months, since his brother Jeb Bush exited the Republican primary, George W. Bush has mostly remained silent about the presidential race as Trump has used harsh rhetoric about, among others, Mexican immigrants and women. He and his father, former President George H.W. Bush, did not attend the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this summer.

On Tuesday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who often assailed Trump throughout this election cycle, announced he voted for write-in candidate Evan McMullin.

Some political observers believe McMullin, a businessman from Utah, could do well in the state, which is a Republican stronghold with a large Mormon voting bloc. (Polls have shown Trump falling short with Mormon voters.)

And Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who has also eschewed supporting Trump, used his vote to write in a name: Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the 2008 GOP nominee.

The symbolic vote remains true to his opposition to Trump. Kasich plans to give a speech Thursday in Washington to chart out his vision for the Republican Party.

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How this election has revealed workplace sexism is still an issue

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Fox News' Megyn Kelly.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Fox News’ Megyn Kelly.
(Andrew Harnik/Associated Press, Victoria Will/Invision/Associated Press)

Personalities may have overshadowed policy during this presidential campaign, but one issue has dominated virtually every news cycle:

He said, she said, he interrupted.

Whether she wins the White House or not, Hillary Clinton has already changed American discourse. If it has done nothing else, her historic campaign has illuminated the belittlement, condescension and hostility that women have endured for decades in workplaces across the country.

This election put what once seemed anecdotal or academic starkly on display on television and in easily shareable YouTube clips.

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In Little Saigon, a possible generational divide at the polls

Thong Le, 75, of Westminster favors Donald Trump, attracted by his business experience and especially his alliance with the Republican party.
Thong Le, 75, of Westminster favors Donald Trump, attracted by his business experience and especially his alliance with the Republican party.
(Anh Do / Los Angeles Times)

After all the votes have been counted, Orange County could turn blue for the first time in decades, thanks in large part to demographic shifts that have diversified the suburbs.

But divisions also exist within the county’s ethnic enclaves such as Little Saigon. There, younger Vietnamese appeared to be voting Democratic on Tuesday while their elders — inspired in part by the GOP’s vocal anti-Communist stance — seemed to be swinging Republican.

Yorba Linda resident Yvon Nguyen cast her ballot for Hillary Clinton, drawn to her character and her decades of political experience. The 33-year-old CEO of a marketing and business intelligence firm said she had heard from family members in Toronto who were worried about America.

“If you ask me how I feel, the word ‘circus’ comes to mind,” Nguyen said. “It’s like I’m living in a constant state of surprises.”

“Just when you think the country is progressing, something happens to turn it around,” she said. “The election has left us uncertain.”

Thong Le, 75, mailed in his ballot days ago and voted for Donald Trump, trusting that the Republican Party would steer its candidate “the right way.” He said he and his peers appreciate the businessman’s decades of corporate experience.

But like Nguyen’s family, the election had Le worried.

“We have to speak up to protect conservative values,” he said. “The Democrats have overspent, they waste taxpayer money a lot and they make the American people carry their debts.”

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Latino voter turnout could break records in California

Early exit polls suggest Latino voters are casting ballots in record numbers in California.

As of midday Tuesday, the percentage of those voting in California who identified themselves as Latino was about 3 in 10, according to exit polls conducted by Edison Research.

That’s a 50% jump from the 2012 election, when Latinos made up 22% of total voters.

Latinos make up 39% of the population in California and are the largest ethnic group in the state. At the polls, however, they are typically underrepresented compared with other minority groups.

A study by UC Davis’ California Civic Engagement Project found that about 20% of voters in the state’s primary election this year were Latino. That was the highest proportion of Latino voters in a California primary in the last decade.

Early polling data also found that 12.6% of California voters are Asian, 5.7% are black, and 47.9% are white.

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What time do I have to be in line to vote tonight in California?

Voters at a polling place in Los Angeles in June.
(Dillon Deaton / Los Angeles Times)

It’s approaching evening, and you still haven’t voted? There’s still time!

Vote at your polling site. As long as you’re in line by 8 p.m., you can still vote. For California voters, find your polling location here.

Still have your vote-by-mail ballot? Drop it off at any polling place in your county before the polls close at 8 p.m.

Remember to sign your vote-by-mail ballot. “If you don’t sign it, it doesn’t count.”

Can I still mail my ballot? Yes, but it must be postmarked today, Election Day. This is a change from previous elections. If the envelope is postmarked by Election Day, and is received by your county registrar within three days, a valid vote-by-mail will be counted.

If the last pickup has already occurred at your nearest mailbox, it’s better to find a polling spot in your county to deliver your ballot before 8 p.m.

Be prepared, if possible. It’s a long ballot, and entering the polls with your choices ahead of time will speed things up.

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Early exit polls: A sizable shift in white college-educated vote toward Democrats

The first wave of exit poll data is beginning to trickle out. Here’s what we know so far:

Neither presidential nominee is popular, unsurprisingly. According to NBC News, just under half of voters nationwide viewed Hillary Clinton favorably, compared with a little over half who viewed her unfavorably.

Donald Trump fares worse: More than one-third viewed him favorably, compared with more than 60% who viewed him unfavorably.

Now, to a big shift from 2012. MSNBC reported that the two candidates are tied among white college graduates. Mitt Romney won that demographic by 14 points over President Obama.

Among white voters without college degrees, Trump romps nearly 2 to 1 over Clinton.

An important caveat: Exit poll data will shift throughout the evening as more come in. So these numbers could still fluctuate.

More to come.

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In GOP-heavy Newport Beach, Trumpy but grumpy about it

Katie Kristoff, 30, holds her dog Emma at a Newport Beach polling place.
(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Carole Reeves, 66, is a Republican whose motto this election is: “Shake it up.”

“I don’t mind telling you that I voted for Trump,” she said from her seat in the sun at an outdoor shopping mall in Newport Beach. Yet her decision to vote for her party’s candidate had surprised her.

“I can’t believe I got on the Trump train,” she said.

Beset with frustration, anxiety and a touch of incredulity that the final day of the campaign had finally arrived, voters in this affluent Republican stronghold cast their ballots Tuesday with little enthusiasm for their party’s presidential candidate.

Most of those interviewed said they had voted for Trump, but grudgingly. Regular donors said they decided not to write checks this year. Regular voters said they considered not voting at all (and some of them didn’t). Families who put up yard signs in years past decided against it.

“What if we get egged?” one woman asked her husband, who wanted to put a Trump campaign sign on their lawn.

“I’m frustrated we didn’t nominate better candidates,” said Gina McGowan, 57, a lifelong Republican and Orange County resident. Voting for Clinton wasn’t an option, she said — “I think she’s a politician and a liar” — but choosing Trump didn’t make her feel good either.

“You can’t be proud of either of them,” she said.

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Exit polling indicates Clinton has strong advantage among Hispanic voters, similar to Obama

(Timothy A. Clary / AFP/Getty Images)

Early exit poll data indicates that Hillary Clinton is trouncing Donald Trump among Hispanic voters, just slightly behind the advantage President Obama enjoyed over Mitt Romney in 2012.

Those voters broke 65% for Clinton, compared with 27% for Trump, according to exit polling. In 2012, Obama won 71% of the Hispanic vote, to 27% for Romney.

Throughout the race, Clinton’s campaign has faced questions about how well she would perform among the so-called “Obama coalition” — primarily young voters, minorities and women. Of late, the campaign has responded by touting what they call the “Clinton coalition” — one that may not see the same strength among African American voters but potentially offsets it with a stronger Hispanic vote, and the support of Republican-leaning women.

The initial wave of voter interviews finds that Clinton is lagging slightly in both categories. Obama enjoyed 93% support among black voters, and Clinton is at 87%, exit polling suggests. But these totals are subject to change, and the margin of error could mean she’s holding her own.

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Who will lead America

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After this seemingly endless campaign, the first polls have closed. Here’s what to look for

(Miranda Pederson / Associated Press)

It’s been 576 days since Hillary Clinton announced she was running for president. Two hundred eighty-one since the Iowa caucuses. Now, finally, the polls have closed in portions of Indiana and Kentucky, giving us our first look at real, raw vote totals.

We won’t see a winner projected in either because both states lie partly in Central time.

Indiana, home to Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence, could be close but seems safe for Trump.

There are very competitive gubernatorial and Senate races in Indiana. A win by former Sen. Evan Bayh would auger well for Democrats’ chances of winning back the majority.

Oh, and remember Rand Paul? He’s running for his second term in Kentucky, and should be safe.

If you are looking for presidential tea leaves to bide your time until the big states close, keep an eye on eastern Kentucky counties and how they perform relative to President Obama’s numbers. This is coal country and was unfriendly to the president. It could be a good indicator of just how strong Trump’s numbers are with non-college-educated white men.

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Are you freaking out? Fight election stress disorder with these tips

(Rogelio V. Solis / Associated Press)

If your stress level is off the charts today, you are not alone.

The election is the source of a significant amount of stress for more than half of all Americans, no matter which candidate they prefer, the American Psychological Assn. reports.

Symptoms of this once-every-four-years disorder include heart palpitations, shortness of breath, sweaty palms, loss of appetite, trouble sleeping and a sinking or doomed feeling, said Dr. Asim Shah, vice chair for community psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

He talked to The Times about how to manage anxiety in the final hours of the election.

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Scenes from the party at Trump’s recently vandalized Walk of Fame star

(Makeda Easter / Los Angeles Times)

Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame has been stomped on, demolished by both a sledgehammer and a pickaxe and painted over with a swastika. Monday night, it was the site of a California “Trump pre-victory party.”

In a last-minute effort to attract more Golden State voters, a group of Donald Trump supporters and volunteers convened at the star on Hollywood Boulevard with signs, costumes, flags, music and a microphone. Their goal was to bring Trump’s message to the undecided.

Randi Berger, 54, one of the event organizers, chose Hollywood because of its reputation as a liberal community.

“We’ve been doing these rallies in Hollywood because there’s actually a need for it. There’s a lot of people who support Trump but they’re afraid to admit it,” Berger said.

On Oct. 26, Trump’s star was vandalized in an act of protest.

(Makeda Easter / Los Angeles Times)

“When they destroyed that star, that hurt me,” said Melrose Larry Green, 65.

Green addressed the crowd in Spanish. Other volunteers, some carrying signs saying “Latinos for Trump” or “Indians for Trump,” also attempted to reach out to minority voters.

A large crowd gathered around the supporters as people passing by stopped to listen, ask questions or voice concerns about the election.

But the mood turned tense when Pancho Diaz stepped in front of the crowd to address Green’s immigration fears. Diaz previously lived in Washington state and picked produce for a living. “Nobody wants to work in the fields, only Mexicans. ... I told him we have a right to live in America,” he said.

The response was competing Trump cheers and jeers drowning out the sound of anyone speaking.

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At least the candidates are popular in their hometown. Um, right?

“VOTE for the one you dislike least,’’ is how the New York Post summed up today’s election, with a cover photograph of a woman holding her nose.

The tabloid, founded by Alexander Hamilton and now owned by Rupert Murdoch, leans to the right, but for the first time that anybody could remember it declined to endorse a presidential candidate. It was a slap in the face to Trump, who had received the Post’s endorsement in the primary. Its rival tabloid, the New York Daily News, has been solidly anti-Trump from the outset and ran on today’s front page a picture of Trump with the headline: “Stop the Don Con.”

Trump, who was born in Queens, is singularly unpopular is his hometown. A poll released last month by Siena College showed the Republican pulling only 17% of the vote in New York City, compared with 73% for Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Many New Yorkers interviewed on Election Day appeared to agree with the Post’s cover.

“I picked the least worst, so I picked Hillary,’’ said 18-year-old Jasmine Rodriguez, a student who is voting for the first time – and was wearing a T-shirt that summed up her sentiments with the slogan: “EVERYONE SUCKS 2016.”

James Sarmaco, 28, remained undecided as of noon Tuesday. He swore, though, that he intended to make up his mind by the time New York polls close at 9 p.m. If he’s unable to decide, he said, “I probably will put my name on my own ballot — vote for myself.’’

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It looks like Trump might be doing his own tweeting for election night

Over the weekend, the New York Times reported that Donald Trump’s staff had wrested his Twitter account away from him in the closing stretch of the campaign to prevent him from tweeting anything too controversial or combative.

Trump’s staff denied the report. But tweets sent from @realDonaldTrump on an Android device, thought to be written by the candidate himself, had slowed to a trickle over the last week. Instead, Trump’s account had been dominated by milder tweets sent from an iPhone, thought to be sent by Trump’s staff.

Until now. With voting in its final hours, the Android tweets have resumed — most notably with an incorrect claim that CNN said Utah officials were reporting voting machine problems across the “entire country.”

That is not true, as CNN’s Brian Stelter pointed out.

Among a sudden flurry of Android tweets, Trump tweeted about his election night plans.

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They’re with her: Springsteen, Madonna, Lady Gaga and Jon Bon Jovi lift their voices for Clinton in final push

Jon Bon Jovi and Lady Gaga rally for Clinton in Raleigh, N.C., on Monday.
(Gerry Broome / Associated Press)

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump had packed schedules Monday, with each presidential candidate making multiple stops in various battleground states to make their final pleas to voters on the eve of election day. Both reached out to their celebrity supporters for last-minute help.

Clinton’s four stops for the day included events in Oakland, Pa.; Allendale, Mich.; Philadelphia; and a final late-night rally in Raleigh, N.C.

Madonna surprised New Yorkers with a pop-up concert to support Hillary Clinton on Monday.
(Matt Rourke / Associated Press)

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These are the key California congressional races to watch tonight

Democratic U.S. Rep. Ami Bera shakes hands with his Republican challenger, Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones.
(Jose Luis Villegas / Associated Press)

Democrats looking to add to their already hefty portion of the 53-member California House delegation tonight hope they can help reduce the GOP’s control, and maybe even win back the House.

Nationally, Democrats are expected to win closer to 10 or 15 new seats tonight rather than the 30 they need to retake the House, but if a strong anti-Donald Trump wave develops, these are the California races to watch.

Republicans hold just 14 of the state’s seats and most of them are in solidly conservative districts.

If a wave doesn’t develop, and Republicans have a better-than- expected night, then these are the races to watch in California.

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Students walk out of 2 Arizona high schools to protest Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Uniting under the hashtag #StudentsAgainstArpaio, students at two Phoenix high schools have staged a walk-out in protest of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who is seeking a seventh term.

Students at Maryvale and North high schools announced the walkout just after noon on Tuesday.

Video from the scene of the North High walkout showed students walking with signs and anti-Arpaio balloons.The longtime sheriff is infamous for targeting Latinos.

People United for Justice, an anti-Arpaio group, sent out a news release when the students walked out of class.

“In a moment when youth of color are making history in their civic participation, students see election day as a responsibility and priority,” the group said in a statement.

Arpaio, in office since 1992, trails opponent Paul Penzone, a Democrat, by up to 15 points in some pre-election polls.

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Clinton supporter: The candidates have shown that ‘it’s OK to not like your neighbors ... to want people out’

Litzamara Alcantar, from Los Angeles, voted for Hillary Clinton. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

This election ... really told me that I needed to become more involved, more informed about the proceedings and about all the propositions that we’re trying to pass. ... The candidates running for presidency have pretty much brought that to light that it’s OK to not like your neighbors, it’s OK to want people out, and I don’t agree with that.

— Litzamara Alcantar, of Los Angeles, voting for Clinton

We’re talking to people across America as this contentious presidential election comes to a close.

Hear more of what people told us and share your own video >>

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Donald Trump returns to conspiratorial, semi-factual tweeting

Donald Trump is back to unrestrained tweeting.

It’s been days since Trump has tweeted about the election being rigged or Hillary Clinton being crooked. The more muted nature of Trump’s tweets coincided with reports that his staff had anxiously curtailed his Twitter access, though some in the campaign disputed that ever happened.

But it was undeniable that the content coming out of Trump’s personal Twitter account has been downright muted of late.

That changed on election day. By 4:30 p.m. Trump Tower time, the GOP nominee was back to tweeting his concerns that the election was being rigged against him. In a somewhat puzzling missive, he quoted CNN as reporting that election officials in the sparsely populated state of Utah had concerns about voting machine problems across the “entire country.”

As has been the case with some of Trump’s other tweets in the past, this one was not entirely factual. Yes, election officials had concerns about voting machines. But not outside Utah. The issues were emerging across an entire county. Not the entire country.

More than 6,500 Twitter users nonetheless retweeted the Trump warning within 20 minutes.

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Where to watch election results on TV, online and in real life

(Eduardo Munoz Alvarez / AFP/Getty Images; Peter Foley / EPA)

Election day is finally here, and once you’ve visited the polls and done your civic duty, all that’s left to do is wring your hands and watch the results come in.

But where is the best place to watch what could be a long night play out? Like voting itself, there are many candidates but only one will be right for you. Below, a rundown of sources to stay informed, stay calm and, if necessary, drown your sorrows.

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President of the Mexico chapter of the GOP didn’t vote for Donald Trump

It’s been a tough election year for Larry Rubin.

As the head of the Republican Party’s chapter in Mexico, he cringed as his party’s presidential candidate insulted Mexico at every turn.

Over 16 months of campaigning, Donald Trump criticized Mexican immigrants, threatened to pull out of trade deals and vowed to make Mexico pay for construction of a border wall.

As recently as the last presidential debate, Rubin wasn’t saying publicly which candidate he was was going to vote for (although in an L.A. Times interview, he made his displeasure with Trump’s rhetoric clear).

This week, however, Rubin publicly announced that he was not voting for Trump.

In an interview with NPR’s Jorge Valencia, Rubin cited Trump’s “issues with women and other rhetoric he’s used.”

“I think he has not recognized the true value of immigrants,” Rubin said.

One thing Rubin didn’t say: whether he voted for Hillary Clinton.

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Clinton supporter: ‘America has changed in a lot of ways ... most of them seem to be very negative’

Jayna Randle, 27, from Watts, CA, voted for Hillary Clinton. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

I would’ve never thought that somebody like Trump would be running in the first place, nor taken seriously by so many people, so I think America has changed in a lot of ways and most of them seem to be very negative.

— Jayna Randle, 27 of Watts, voting for Clinton

We’re talking to people across America as this contentious presidential election comes to a close.

Hear more of what people told us and share your own video >>

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L.A. County clerk answers voter complaints about broken machines, filming at polling places

An "I Voted" sticker is displayed on Whirlie the Clown's outfit at the Luxe Hotel in Los Angeles.
(Mike Nelson / EPA)

L.A. County Clerk Dean Logan has been on Twitter all day responding to voters with questions and complaints about election day. Some inquiries were weirder than others.

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Fear of a wall weighs on Latino voters in L.A.

Latino voters at polling places in Boyle Heights and Lincoln Heights said they came out to vote for many reasons -- Donald Trump’s talk of building a wall not least among them.

Recent polls have led to predictions of a record Latino turnout in good part because of anti-Trump feeling.

Outside a recreation center in Lincoln Heights, Ana Castillo, 65, said she remained a tad uncertain about how she’d vote on state propositions, but she had made up her mind about the presidency.

“They’re both not great, but Trump is worse than Clinton,” she said in Spanish. “[Clinton has] made her mistakes, but ... Trump is racist. Everything he says is not OK.”

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Two of L.A.’s oldest voters want you to vote

Betty and Morris Markoff are two of L.A.’s oldest voters.

Betty Markoff was born in 1916 – four years before women nationwide got the right to vote. Her husband, Morris, was born two years before her. In the century they have been alive, there have been two world wars, 12 moonwalks and 17 different U.S. presidents.

For them, America’s worst period was the Great Depression. The best? The past 10 years of their lives. Now, as America wraps up one of its most contentious elections in history, the Markoffs have a message:

“People have died just for the right to vote. Vote.”

Video edited by Steve Saldivar.

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No. 1 word being searched on the online Merriam-Webster dictionary? ‘Acrimonious’

Merriam-Webster tweeted that the most-looked-up word of the day on election day is “acrimonious,” which it defines as “caustic, biting, or rancorous especially in feeling, language, or manner.”

Oh my.

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What’s new this election day? Real-time election projections. Will it work? Who knows.

(Rogelio V. Solis / Associated Press)

Like many other traditions, the long-established ritual of calling election winners is being disrupted by new technology. And, as usual, that makes some people unhappy.

A data start-up called VoteCastr is trying out an effort to provide real-time estimates of the balloting in key states for the first time.

VoteCastr uses a combination of pre-election polling, publicly available data on voter turnout and modeling of precinct-level demographics to produce estimates of the vote in seven hotly contested states: Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

The estimates are being published by Slate and by Vice.

So far, the group projects Clinton to be ahead in six of the seven states -- all but Iowa.

Are they right? The truth is, no one really knows.

VoteCastr has a lot of smart data experts working for it, including top data analysts from both the GOP and Democratic sides.

But this is basically a test drive for its model and many things could go wrong.

Already, some glitches have surfaced. The group had technical difficulties early this morning.

Its estimates included votes for Jill Stein in Nevada, even though the Green Party nominee isn’t on the state’s ballot. And ballot totals did not match those that state officials were reporting, although VoteCastr said those discrepancies were built in to its model.

All that has many analysts skeptical about the whole idea.

Others worry that early forecasts could cause some voters to give up on casting a ballot if they think their candidate already has lost.

But skepticism and worries notwithstanding, some sort of modeling effort like this is probably here to stay. Advances in data analysis have made forecasting easier to do -- although not necessarily more accurate -- and social media has made people even hungrier for the latest news, however uncertain.

Financial markets also have a huge demand for split-second news updates. News that VoteCastr’s projections showed Trump losing key states appeared to cause the S&P average and the Mexican peso to soar earlier today.

For those with more patience, the cable and broadcast TV networks, and the Associated Press will call the races the old-fashioned way -- waiting for polls to close and matching exit poll data to early turnout numbers.

How long will that take? Four years ago, the AP called the election for President Obama at 8:38 p.m. Pacific time.

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Orange County voters agree on one thing: They are glad the election is almost over

Kent Barkouras,55, Newport Beach, wearing patriotic garb, waits in line to vote at the Lido Isle Clubhouse.
(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Voters casting ballots today at a seaside church in Seal Beach were divided on the candidates but they agreed on one thing: They were ready for the election to be over.

“It’s been more about bullying each other versus [improving] the country,” said Anjie Whitman, a 48-year-old nurse practitioner. “It’s been tolling. I’m glad it’s election day.”

Whitman, a Democrat, said she voted for Hillary Clinton because of her consistency and standards, and that she was excited Orange County may support a non-Republican for president for the first time in 80 years.

“I’m proud,” she said.

John Rowe, an independent who said he voted for Donald Trump, did not share Whitman’s feelings about Clinton but was excited about the political changes in the county he has called home for decades.

“It says a lot about how Orange County has changed. It’s not a conservative bastion anymore,” said the 57-year-old. “It used to be when I grew up people would say, ‘Oh, you live behind the Orange curtain. That’s not so much the case anymore, and I think that’s actually a good thing. Diversity is good. Diversity of opinions is good.”

Describing himself as “exhausted and embarrassed” by the campaign, he said he fears that the polarization will not heal.

“I don’t see good days ahead,” he said.

PHOTOS: 2016 presidential election | America goes to the polls

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Crowds line up to put ‘I Voted’ stickers on Susan B. Anthony’s grave

Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, N.Y., has seen an influx of visitors today. The election of America’s first female president has never been more within reach, and crowds of people are flocking to the grave of 19th century suffragette Susan B. Anthony to pay respects and leave their “I Voted” stickers on her tombstone.

Anthony, a feminist activist, social reformer and abolitionist, was integral to the women’s suffrage movement of the late 1800s. The movement contributed to the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920, which gave women nationwide the right to vote.

However, her movement fought for the voting rights of white women, excluding African Americans. Anthony, who died in 1906, once said, “I will cut off this right arm of mine before I will ever work or demand the ballot for the negro and not the woman.”

In light of the attention Anthony is receiving today, many are speaking out about that.

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Here’s how to watch the Senate races and the battle for Congress like a pro

The battle for Congress will come down to a handful of races Tuesday to determine whether Republicans keep their majority in both chambers or lose the Senate to Democrats.

Speaker Paul D. Ryan is expected to easily hold the House majority, though it almost certainly will shrink by a dozen or so seats. Democrats are close to picking up four Senate seats for a 50-50 split, with the vice president as tie-breaker giving the majority to the party in the White House.

How can you keep track of races under the dome? Here are key ones to watch. And as Cook Political Report analyst Jennifer Duffy suggests, “Get very comfortable. It’s going to be a long night.”

All times are Pacific.

4 p.m. Indiana, Florida, Virginia

In the Hoosier State showdown for an open seat, Republicans have a strong candidate in Rep. Todd Young, but former Sen. Evan Bayh posed a surprise challenge. Bayh’s massive war chest and name recognition seemed formidable. But he proved rusty on the campaign trail, and outside groups, including those aligned with the Koch brothers, went all in for Young. It’s the GOP’s to lose.

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio is expected to pull out an early win over Democrat Patrick Murphy in Florida. But several House races may become tests for the GOP — the Orlando-area contest between Republican Rep. John Mica and Democrat Stephanie Murphy and the open seat battle in Palm Beach County.

4:30 p.m. North Carolina, Ohio

Next up, polls will close in the Tar Heel state, a major presidential battleground, where Republican Sen. Richard Burr’s lackluster campaign gave an opening to challenger Deborah Ross, a former ACLU executive, an opening. This should have been an easy reelection for Burr, but an upset could cost his party the Senate.

Republican Sen. Rob Portman took the opposite approach in Ohio, bracing for the toughest race of his career; he ran a smart campaign and is now expected to notch an early win over former Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland.

5 p.m. New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Illinois

Perhaps the two most endangered Republicans are Sen. Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire and Sen. Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania. They have twisted over whether to back their party’s presidential nominee, Donald Trump — Ayotte did, then didn’t; Toomey declined to say — costing them votes.

Both have run bruising campaigns. Ayotte was pulling an all-nighter with a 3 a.m. campaign stop Tuesday at the Denny’s in Salem and 5 a.m. at the Hookset rest area.

The states also are serious presidential battlegrounds. Watch and wait.

Republican Sen. Roy Blunt in Missouri should have had a relatively safe reelection, until Democrat Jason Kander appeared in a TV ad assembling a high-powered rifle while blindfolded to highlight his military skills and his commitment to stricter gun laws. The Show-Me state is now one to watch.

Only Republican Sen. Mark Kirk in Illinois seems poised for almost certain defeat to Democratic Rep. Tammy Duckworth, a former Black Hawk helicopter pilot who lost her legs in a crash in Iraq.

New Jersey’s 5th congressional district

This would be a good time to check in again with the House races, particularly in the district in northern New Jersey, where seven-term Republican Rep. Scott Garrett could test the staying power of the House GOP. Democrats are banking on Josh Gottheimer, a former Microsoft executive and speechwriter for President Bill Clinton, as an early upset.

6 p.m. Wisconsin, Louisiana

First-term Sen. Ron Johnson has been among the most endangered Republicans, but he mounted a surprise comeback with an assist from Ryan, who joined him on a statewide bus tour for the final days of the campaign.

Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain is expected to overcome a once-worrisome challenge from former Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick.

Louisiana’s open Senate seat is likely to remain Republican, but the “jungle” primary Tuesday has drawn a robust field — including David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader — and the top two vote-getters are expected to push to a December runoff.

7 p.m. Nevada

The small state of Nevada has become an electoral giant, and if control of the Senate has not been decided, the race to replace retiring Sen. Harry Reid could do it.

Republican Rep. Joe Heck, a former emergency room doctor and Army reservist, is facing Democratic state Atty. Gen. Catherine Cortez Masto, who would be the Senate’s first Latina in a year that is on track to becoming the year of the Latino electorate.

Two of the Silver State’s House seats also will be ones to watch. Democrat Jacky Rosen faces Republican Danny Tarkanian, son of former UNLV basketball coaching legend Jerry Tarkanian, for the open seat at the southern tip of the state. And in the north Las Vegas suburbs, Democrat Ruben Kihuen, who would be the state’s first Mexican American immigrant in the House, is challenging freshman Republican Crescent Hardy.

After hours

Duffy, the analyst, believes Democrats will net four to six seats. But it may take beyond Tuesday to determine that.

“We might not know on Election Night,” she wrote, “at least if we are looking at the prospects of a tied chamber.”

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Californians aren’t the only ones voting on marijuana, gun sales and the death penalty

Legalized pot. Tighter gun laws. An increased minimum wage. Even an initiative to limit initiatives. Nationwide, voters are being asked to decide the fate of more than 150 ballot measures that seek to reshape local law.

Beyond California’s slew of measures, here are some interesting ones to keep an eye on.

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Waiting in line to vote? Listen to new music only available at your polling place

Rock the Vote and app Election FM have teamed up with several musicians (including Silver Lake’s own Local Natives) to make new music available to voters, but only at local polling places.

The app allows you to search for a user’s local polling place and, upon arrival, stream new songs from Watsky and Adam Vida, the Head and the Heart, as well as Local Natives.

Rock the Vote has been working to engage the youth vote since 1990, when it was founded by Jeff Ayeroff, then copresident of Virgin Records America. Working as a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, Rock the Vote aims to change the way young people think about voting, to spur them to take part in the political decisions shaping their future.

The organization has had a longstanding relationship with MTV, as well as with recording artists including Alicia Keys, Lil Jon and Rise Against.

The new tune from Local Natives is merely the latest 2016 release for the band, whose third album (and first in three years), “Sunlit Youth, was released in September.

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Watch this judge in Nevada reject Donald Trump’s request and school his attorney about Twitter trolls

Things did not go great for Donald Trump’s campaign in a Nevada court Tuesday.

District Judge Gloria Sturman was unimpressed by the lawsuit it filed alleging improprieties in early voting around Las Vegas. She rejected the campaign’s request to preserve particular records – saying county officials were already required by law to preserve most of them. And then she excoriated Trump’s attorneys for seeking the names of paid and volunteer poll workers.

The judge suggested ordering their identities be made public would subject them to any manner of abuse from Trump’s notoriously aggressive supporters online.

“Do you watch Twitter?” Sturman said. “Have you watched any cable news shows? There are Internet – you know the vernacular – trolls who could get this information and harass people. Why would I order them to make available to you information about people who work at polls?”

Sturman also chastised the campaign for taking up the time of the defendant, Clark County Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria, when he was busy with election day. And she questioned what the Trump campaign was even doing in court when it had not yet issued its grievances with the secretary of state, an administrative step she said should have been taken before a hearing was scheduled.

“I am not going to issue any order,” Sturman said. “I am not going to do that.”

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Georgia mayor says he was joking when he told Democrats to vote on Wednesday

A mayor outside Atlanta says he was wasn’t serious when he posted on social media telling his followers to remember that Democrats should vote on Wednesday.

“Remember the voting days: Republicans vote on Tuesday, 11/8 and Democrats vote on Wednesday, 11/9,” Jefferson Riley, the mayor of Mansfield, Ga., wrote on his personal Facebook page on Tuesday.

Social media users were quick to criticize the mayor for the post, which widely circulated via screenshots even after Riley deleted it. Some also defended the mayor.

Riley, who in 2014 became mayor of the small city about 50 miles southeast of Atlanta, called the post a joke in an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“People take things so seriously. You can’t joke about anything anymore — especially on social media,” he told the newspaper.

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Tweet us your #IVoted sticker! We’re starting a collection

How many #IVoted stickers can we collect? Let’s shoot for the moon. Tweet me @ronlin.

From Alameda County:

And Santa Barbara County:

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Record number (but not percentage) of voters projected

At least 47 million people cast early ballots in this year’s election, and close to 90 million more are expected to vote Tuesday, likely leading to a record number of voters.

University of Florida political scientist Michael McDonald, one of the country’s leading experts on voter turnout, estimates that roughly 135 million people will cast ballots this year.

In 2012, just over 129 million voted in the contest between President Obama and Republican Mitt Romney. Four years earlier, Obama’s quest to become the nation’s first African American president had drawn slightly more than 131 million people to vote, or about 62% of the total population eligible to vote, according to McDonald’s data.

The 2008 election marked the recent high point in turnout. Because the U.S. population has grown a lot since 2008, 135 million voters would mean a lower percentage turnout than in that election.

The record turnout in modern U.S. elections came in the closely contested 1960 race between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon. That election took place before the 26th Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified in 1971, lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.

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At Nevada brothel, each state Trump wins will mean a beer on the house

The Nevada brothel will observe election day with the “Stardust Ranch Patriot Party.”
(David Montero / Los Angeles Times)

Donald Trump has locked up the Stardust Ranch vote.

The brothel on the edge of this small Nevada town will host an election day watch party when the first polls close and will offer up something special for each state the Republican nominee wins: a free beer.

If Trump takes Nevada, the house will pour a shot for everyone at the bar, which consists of about seven seats and two small cocktail tables. The brothel also recently expanded to include a beer garden out back.

Ben Stanello, who helps manage the brothel, said the Stardust Ranch has been pro-Trump for months.

He said he’s not sure how many people will show up for what’s been billed on social media as the “Stardust Ranch Patriot Party,” but if Trump wins, there will be a party -- and, Stanello said, he’ll be relieved.

“I’m tired of giving our country away,” he said.

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Will my provisional ballot really get counted?

Provisional ballots in L.A. County are placed into pink envelopes.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Will your provisional ballot in L.A. County really get counted?

Chances are: Yes.

Voters can sometimes get upset when they are handed out a provisional ballot at the polls in California, skeptical that their vote really will get counted.

But in the November 2014 election, more than 91% of provisional ballots cast in Los Angeles County were judged to be valid and counted.

For the ballots deemed to be invalid, the top reason why they were not counted was because the voter wasn’t actually registered to vote.

Other top reasons? Voters:

  • Forgot to insert their voted ballot in the envelope
  • Filed their voter registration form too late
  • Live in a different county
  • Did not sign the provisional ballot envelope

Officials say provisional ballots are used so elections officials can double-check to see if people are actually registered to vote, and prevent people from voting twice — first by mail, and again at the polls.

California law requires counties to allow voters to check to see if their provisional ballot has been counted. Click over to the California Secretary of State’s website to see how to do it.

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One reason we might not know California election results for a while

San Li inspects a mail-in ballot before it is counted at the Sacramento County Registrar of Voters office on June 10, 2016.
(Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

County election officials across California won’t know exactly how many vote-by-mail ballots have been cast until Monday, which could dial up the intrigue in any super-close races.

As long as a mail-in ballot has been postmarked by election day Tuesday and received within three days, it must be counted by state law. But Friday is Veteran’s Day, a federal holiday with no mail delivery, and government offices are closed on the weekends.

“Because the third day is a federal holiday, it rolls to Monday,” said Sam Mahood, spokesman for the California Secretary of State’s office.

And in close races, the extra days mean delayed results.

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Trump sues to challenge early voting in Las Vegas area, which had big Latino turnout

Update: A judge has rejected Trump’s request

Donald Trump’s campaign has filed a lawsuit in Nevada, alleging that polls were improperly kept open late in the Las Vegas area during early voting.

The filing comes as the surge of Latinos voting early in Nevada has Hillary Clinton’s campaign expressing confidence that it will win the state, which was nearly a dead heat in polls leading up to election day. Before the filing of the suit Monday night, Trump charged that the long lines of voters who were permitted to cast ballots after the poll closing time was the sign of a rigged election.

But Nevada law clearly states that polls are to stay open to accommodate eligible voters in line at closing time. A hearing for the case was scheduled for Tuesday, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal. The defendant is is Clark County Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria.

The filing suggested the Trump campaign is preparing to contest the outcome of the election should Trump lose and choose not to concede. It targeted polling places in the Las Vegas area with large populations of minority voters, according to CNN.

At a rally in Reno on Saturday night, Trump alleged that polling locations in Clark County had been kept open way beyond their closing time to bus in Democratic voters. In a conference call with reporters, officials from the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign declined to discuss the suit.

Clark County officials said in a statement that the lawsuit requests they preserve the records from early voting, which they are already doing, as it is required by law.

Clinton advisor Neera Tanden said it is the Trump campaign that is attempting the rigging.

“This is a desperate attempt by the Trump campaign to actually rig the vote,” she said Tuesday on MSNBC. “This is a blatant attempt to depress the vote.”

Nevada political analyst Jon Ralston tweeted that the Trump lawsuit is “insane” in a state that clearly allows the polls to remains open until everyone in line has voted. He linked to tweets from former Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller, who posted the statute that states “voting must continue until those voters have voted.”

“If there are people in line waiting to vote at 7pm, voting must continue until everyone votes,” Miller wrote. “We still live in America, right?”

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These key governor’s races look very close

North Carolina Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, right, debates with Democratic challenger Atty. Gen. Roy Cooper on Oct. 11.
(Gerry Broome / Associated Press)

Democrats hope they can hold on to as many as eight governorships in this election and take two others from the GOP, including North Carolina Republican Gov. Pat McCrory’s seat. In all, there are 12 governorships up for grabs.

The Obama years, especially since the emergence of the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party in 2010, have been brutal for the Democrats; during that time, they lost 59 out of 94 gubernatorial races.

Here’s a look at tight races we’re watching.

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Photos: America goes to the polls

Voters and their four-legged friends in Long Beach.
(Christina House / For The Times)

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These new faces won’t likely flip the House. But they may make it more interesting.

Denise Juneau of Montana would be the first Native American woman in the House.
(Matthew Brown / AP)

Continued Republican control of the House is not seriously in doubt, thanks to the largest majority since the Hoover administration and gerrymandering that kept most seats safely partisan.

But Speaker Paul D. Ryan will likely see his 60-seat majority shrink – analysts expect Democrats to gain about 10 seats, even as they lose a few races.

Who could join the people’s House? Here are a few interesting and fresh, or familiar, faces to watch:

Charlie Crist (Democrat, Florida)

Crist is the former Florida governor and onetime Republican who became an independent, then a Democrat. After a once-ascendant career, he has fallen short in several comeback attempts.

Now he is challenging second-term Republican Rep. David Jolly for the Democratic-leaning Tampa-area seat.

Denise Juneau (Democrat, Montana)

Juneau’s family has been in Montana since before it was a state, some 50-plus generations, and as a member of the Mandan Hidatsa tribes and descendant of the Blackfeet tribes, she would be the first Native American woman in the House.

Juneau, the Harvard-educated superintendent of public instruction, is also Montana’s first openly gay candidate for federal office. She faces freshman Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke for the state’s only congressional seat.

Ruben Kihuen (Democrat, Nevada)

Kihuen would be Nevada’s first Mexican American immigrant in the House – something his mother, Blanca, a hotel housekeeper, has said in fundraising appeals is the kind of better life she envisioned for her family when they came to the U.S.

Kihuen, a state senator, is challenging freshman Republican Rep. Crescent Hardy in the state’s newest district, which stretches from the northern Las Vegas suburbs to the rural north and is Democratic-leaning.

Brian Mast (Republican, Florida)

A former Army bomb disposal expert, Mast lost both legs while investigating an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan.

After recovering, he joined the Department of Homeland Security as a bomb expert. He faces Democrat Randy Perkins, a landscaper, for the Palm Beach-area open seat.

Stephanie Murphy (Democrat, Florida)

One of Murphy’s TV ads tells the story of her family’s flight from Vietnam by boat when she was a year old, and their rescue by the U.S. Navy.

A government affairs executive who worked as a national security specialist for the Pentagon, Murphy is challenging 12-term incumbent Republican Rep. John Mica in the Orlando-area district.

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Trump supporter: ‘I wish we just had a candidate everyone could rally behind’

Patrick Miller, 37, of Pacific Palisades, is voting Republican.

It has not been encouraging as far as building camaraderie between the community of our entire country. ... I wish we just had a candidate everyone could rally behind and we could get excited about.

— Patrick Miller, 37, of Pacific Palisades

We’re talking to people across America as this contentious presidential election comes to a close.

Hear more of what people told us and share your own video >>

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Gov. Jerry Brown says nation can’t ‘wallow in dysfunctionality’ after a divisive election

Gov. Jerry Brown greets workers outside his Sacramento polling place on Tuesday.
(John Myers / Los Angeles Times)

Pledging to do what he can to help Hillary Clinton if she’s elected president, Gov. Jerry Brown said Tuesday that the nation needs to work to turn the corner after a bitter and divisive election season.

“I would say the country’s divided, and it’s going to take heroic efforts to put it back together,” Brown told reporters after casting his ballot in downtown Sacramento.

The governor, who predicted a Clinton victory, also said he believes she will face a major challenge in the aftermath of the combative presidential campaign. He made a brief trip to Colorado over the weekend to stump for the Democratic nominee.

Brown, who brought along his convalescing dog Sutter to the polling place, took aim at Republicans in Washington, D.C. who he said don’t seem willing to close ranks with Democrats after the election.

“You can’t be a superpower and wallow in dysfunctionality,” he said. “In a dangerous world, with an uncertain economy, that’s really bad.”

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Artists create super PAC as performance art

Artists, who love to work outside the system, and super PAC founders, who love to exploit it, don’t usually go together.

But a collective in Miami’s emerging Wynwood district called ForFreedoms.org has done just that. And it says $150,000 has been raised to create provocative billboards, muraled trucks and street art around the country to further a civil discussion about what most people see as an ugly year in politics.

On Friday, a 100-foot project was raised that uses controversial billboard ads and an interactive part that lets passersby express what they want “freedom for” and “freedom from.”

Stuart Sheldon created one of the billboards, an American flag posing spiralized questions about freedom. To him, it’s about urging people “at a granular level” to start over, with less fear and more optimism.

Two other billboards in Wynwood — one depicting a burning Confederate flag and another showing an African American artist’s boyhood picture with a target across it — were rejected by ad companies when the super PAC tried to put them up as paid billboards, said Wyatt Gallery, the group’s executive director.

Even though Wynwood tends toward the liberal artist set, the interactive portion of the project has drawn a mix of responses, including someone who wants “freedom from” sharia law, George Soros and Crooked Hillary.

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Gov. Jerry Brown gets a little election-day help from his famous dog, Sutter Brown

Sutter recently had surgery for cancer, prompting an outpouring of concern and love for the already beloved dog.

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What happens when on election night: An hour-by-hour guide

Americans may say they’re disgusted with this election and not particularly fond of either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. But the numbers belie those sentiments: The nominees’ debates set viewership records, perhaps a form of electoral rubbernecking, and many states set early-voting records. The Clinton campaign even predicted a possible national turnout record.

So the chances are good that you’re one of the millions who will monitor the results tonight more closely than in any election before.

Though Clinton has a lead of a few percentage points in several national polls — and The Times predicted she will win the presidency with 352 electoral votes — the outcome is far from certain.

Here’s an hour-by-hour guide that will help you navigate the day once polls start to close.

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Voting machine snags reported in several states

Willa Domina, 6, watches her mother, Emily Katz, vote at a polling station in Durham, N.C.
Willa Domina, 6, watches her mother, Emily Katz, vote at a polling station in Durham, N.C.
(Sara D. Davis/AFP-Getty Images)

Voting machine issues were reported in several states on Tuesday, leading some elections officials to turn to paper ballots.

Broken machines were reported by media or elections officials at polling places in North Carolina, Utah, New York, Illinois, Kentucky, Texas, Virginia, Ohio and Connecticut.

Isolated machine issues are common during elections. Polling officials typically are prepared with backup plans and either quickly fix machines or use paper ballots instead.

Some of the reported problems:

  • In Washington County, Utah — a county northeast of Las Vegas bordering Nevada — elections officials had issues with touch screens before fixing them, according to NBC News.
  • In Durham County, N.C., problems were reported with machines at “a few sites,” and the state elections board instructed local officials to use paper ballots as a “precaution,” according to state officials.
  • Electionland, a voting monitoring project from ProPublica that verifies crowdsourced reports of voter issues, also said that in North Carolina, there were issues with optical scanners in Gates, Orange, Cleveland, Cumberland, Wake, Craven and Forsyth counties. No issues were reported as of 11 a.m. in Mecklenburg County, the location of the state’s biggest city, Charlotte, according to the Charlotte Observer.
  • In the Richmond, Va., area, news station WTVR reported early-morning voting machine issues at an elementary school, a high school and a church that were set up as polling sites.
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On social media, complaints about glitches at some L.A. polling places

Broken machines. Missing voter rolls. Long lines.

Those were among the complaints from Los Angeles County voters flooding social media accounts Tuesday morning.

At the Delano Recreation Center in Van Nuys, voters complained that voting equipment had not been delivered.

People trying to vote at the Edgewater Skilled Nursing Center in Long Beach posted to Twitter and Facebook that the voter rosters that should have listed their names were missing, forcing many to mark provisional ballots.

Voting booths reportedly were missing at Dahlia Heights Elementary School in Eagle Rock.

The L.A. County registrar-recorder/county clerk was not immediately available to comment on problems at the polls.

The Los Angeles Times is participating in Electionland, a ProPublica project that will cover access to the ballot and problems that prevent people from exercising their right to vote during the 2016 election.

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Regardless of the election results, here are real winners and losers of the 2016 campaign

Even before the election results are tallied, some clear winners and losers have emerged from the 2016 presidential campaign.

Not many survived this tumultuous and dispiriting race with their reputations intact. Republicans performed pretzel-like contortions to accommodate Donald Trump, and Democratic leadership was bruised by a series of controversies that raised questions about the fairness of their primary process.

Meanwhile, Americans continued to lose faith in their most important institutions. So it shouldn’t be surprising that this list is heavier on the losers than the winners. As one candidate might say: Sad!

Here’s our list:

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Obama appeal from the Rose Garden: ‘Go vote! It’s up to you’

Freshly back at the White House after his ritual election day basketball game, President Obama cleaned up, put on a suit and went out to do a public service announcement of sorts in the Rose Garden.

With the White House press corps assembled to observe, Obama walked the colonnade on his way from the residence to the Oval Office at about 12:45 p.m.

Dressed in a dark suit and striped tie, he pointed at the cameras as he walked, speaking to an unseen audience.

“Go vote!” he said. “It’s up to you.”

Asked by a reporter if he was nervous about tonight’s election results, Obama said, “As long as the American people vote, I think we’ll do a good job.”

He then walked into the Oval Office, and the door closed behind him.

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Feeling anxious about the election? Here’s how to cope

Symptoms of this disorder include heart palpitations, shortness of breath, sweaty palms, loss of appetite, trouble sleeping and a sinking or doomed feeling

Are you suffering from election stress disorder?

It seems like everyone I know has it. Last week, my kindergartner woke up at 5 a.m. with nightmares about “two people running for president.” One friend wrote on Facebook that she is barely sleeping at all and now fills the predawn hours canning fruit. I’ve heard reports of chest pains and short-term Xanax prescriptions within my circle.

Election stress disorder may not be well known, but it’s definitely real, and its impact should not be dismissed, said Dr. Asim Shah, vice chairman for community psychiatry at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

Symptoms of this once-every-four-years disorder include heart palpitations, shortness of breath, sweaty palms, loss of appetite, trouble sleeping and a sinking or doomed feeling, he said.

Here are some ways to manage the stress.

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Koreatown voter: ‘I just hope, finally, we can unite’

Kriss Goss-Marr after casting her ballot.
Kriss Goss-Marr after casting her ballot.
(Kurtis Lee / Los Angeles Times )

For Kriss Goss-Marr, election day could not have come soon enough.

“This campaign caused a lot of turmoil and way too much division,” said Goss-Marr after casting her ballot for Hillary Clinton at a recreational center in the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles on Tuesday. “I just hope, finally, we can unite and just move on.”

Goss-Marr, 31, who is a director at a local nonprofit, is a lifelong Democrat.

“I could never vote for him,” she said of Republican nominee Donald Trump. “He caused this division.”

As Goss-Marr pulled out of the recreation center driveway, Maria Fuentes, 27, stepped out of her car ready to vote.

“What can I say? Both are not ideal,” Fuentes said with a grin. “But for me, it’s going to be Hillary. We’ll see what she can do, but it is the lesser of two evils.”

While Fuentes expressed reservations about Clinton “basically being in politics her whole life,” she was excited to cast a ballot for the first woman to serve as a major party nominee.

“It really is historic,” she said.

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Guess what? Your L.A. vote is worth a free doughnut

(AFP/Getty Images)

Sure, there’s a lot to be said for doing your civic duty.

But in Los Angeles today, voting also can get you a free doughnut, a free cup of coffee, even booze.

Some businesses are handing out freebies for customers showing off that “I voted” sticker.

Find out more about what an “I voted” sticker can get you around town.

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In Philadelphia neighborhoods where Trump warned of fraud, voters are sending a message back

When Donald Trump repeatedly warned of potential voting improprieties in Philadelphia, many black voters here saw it as a slap in the face. And on Tuesday, they said they were turning out steadily to send a message back.

If passion for Hillary Clinton was not always present, fear and loathing of Trump was.

Lamont Grier, 41, an auto detailer from Nicetown, Pa., said he feared the consequences of what he saw as dangerous rhetoric coming from Trump this election.

“They’re taking away a whole bunch of freedoms and liberty and anything that’s constitutional,” he said, saying he feared more militarized policing. “Where would they put the military? It would be right here in the hood.” He said he is not optimistic about a reconciliation after the election.

“I think there’s a civil war on its way whether we get Hillary or Trump.”

“I’ve never felt this nervous about a candidate or campaign in a lifetime of voting,” said Alverta Davis, a retired healthcare administrator. She was leaving a polling place with her daughter, Courtney Workman, 28, who works in a law firm. Both voted for Clinton — Davis with more enthusiasm than her daughter, who said she voted for Bernie Sanders in the primary. Workman said most of her friends also are voting for Clinton — but some are staying home, disgusted with both.

“I was able to push aside my feelings that Bernie should have been the candidate,” she said. “By any means necessary, Trump can not be president.”

Likewise, Levette Peoples, 59, said she wasn’t fond of Clinton, who she said rubbed her the wrong way during her 2008 fight against President Obama. “She wasn’t gracious at all.” But Trump, she said, is “a nightmare.”

“I mean, c’mon. I don’t like the way he talks about women. He just rubs me the wrong way. Her, a little less.”

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Watch live: Our editorial cartoonist is drawing Trump, Clinton and more

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Flashback: ‘This most vicious campaign’ was in 1964

This time around, it is not a stirring drama. It’s a sordid carnival. And I, for one, am thoroughly sickened by the countless freaks in the side show.

— Paul Coates, Los Angeles Times columnist

Published in the Los Angeles Times on Oct. 29, 1964, at the denouement of the Lyndon B. Johnson vs. Barry Goldwater campaign, the sentiments of this column from half a century ago ring true for many voting today. By the end of the day, another vicious campaign cycle will be over and history will be made.

In that 1964 election, the Democratic incumbent, Johnson, defeated the Republican challenger, Goldwater, with more than 60% of the popular vote, one of the most crushing victories in the history of U.S. presidential elections.

Today’s election, on the other hand, looks much closer -- but no matter who wins, multitudes of people will be relieved to see the campaigns end.

There may have been dirtier campaigns than this one, but not in my memory .... Something evil has either happened to us, or been revealed about us in the passions of this strange election.

— Coates in 1964

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Nearly halfway through election day, U.S. officials not seeing feared cyber attacks

(Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times)

Homeland Security officials haven’t seen cyber attacks or widespread irregularities several hours into voting Tuesday, two U.S. officials familiar with the effort to track hacking attempts said on the condition of anonymity.

Phones are quiet so far inside a cyber security “war room” set up by the Department of Homeland Security to field calls from local election officials about hacking attempts, one official said. Computer experts at the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center, pronounced “N-Kick” for short, are on high alert, ready to field questions and marshal a response should hackers try to interfere with voting systems.

U.S. intelligence officials had warned that hackers in Russia or elsewhere may attempt to change voting tallies or alter results to sow distrust in the outcome.

During the course of the morning, a few calls had come in with scattered reports of voting machines not working in a handful of jurisdictions, the official said, but not more than during a normal election year.

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Not all immigrants are voting against Donald Trump

Helen Hernandez, a 37-year-old paralegal, moved to Miami from Cuba when she was 15. And despite all Donald Trump has said about immigrants, she voted for him on Tuesday.

“I don’t like a couple of things,” she said, citing the Republican presidential candidate’s personality as one of them. “I’m going to give him a chance to see if we get a change. I don’t want the same thing for four years.”

Hernandez said her main issue is Obamacare. She was frustrated with the cost of her mother’s health insurance plan.

She said she agrees with Trump that immigration has gotten “out of hand.” Though Trump criticized his GOP primary rivals for speaking Spanish, Hernandez initially expressed her thoughts in her native language, to feel more comfortable, before switching back to English.

“Everybody can come,” she said, referring to the current state of immigration, as she sees it. “It’s too much. There has to be some kind of restrictions, even for us, for Cubans, for everybody.”

In fact, Cuban Americans have long voted Republican, though newer generations have tended to shift toward Democrats. Some polls suggest that Trump is faring well in the group, possibly because President Obama relaxed relations with Cuba, a move opposed by hard-liners in the exile community but more popular among newer arrivals.

Trump’s comments about Mexican immigration may not carry quite the same sting for many Cuban Americans, who have long had special immigration status that gives them an easy path to citizenship if they successfully reach the U.S.

That attitude has some supporters of Hillary Clinton steaming mad. Holly Morganelli, a 35-year-old university librarian, said her support for the Democratic candidate “boiled down to human rights and equality.”

“This is a city of immigrants, and there are people who are extreme hypocrites in Miami,” she said. “And I don’t understand it.”

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Dejected? Empowered? The mood among Arizona voters varies by neighborhood

Carisa Bianchi
(Melanie Mason / Los Angeles TimeS)

Carisa Bianchi cast a vote for president Tuesday morning, but she wasn’t happy about it. And she didn’t want to say whom she chose.

“I’ve been chastised by both sides,” said the accountant, 40, who voted at a Lutheran church in an upscale Phoenix suburb. She said she didn’t see either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump as a particularly good choice.

Instead of hearing a discussion of national security or taxes, she saw the election as an exercise in mutual degradation. The one bright side, she said, is that it was coming to a close.

“It’ll be good that it’s over because I’m sick of it,” Bianchi said. “I’m sick of the last year and a half, of all the news.”

Robin Ayers, 41, a real estate agent, felt a similar sense of distaste.

“I feel disgusted to vote for either,” said Ayers, adding she ultimately sided with her party affiliation, Republican, and voted for Trump.

Anita Cota-Soto
(Melanie Mason / Los Angeles Times)

In the neighboring town of Guadalupe, the mood was noticeably sunnier. Anita Cota-Soto, a newly elected member of the town council, stood outside El Tianguis Mercado, a courtyard-style shopping center-turned-polling site, and greeted most incoming voters by name.

Most were Latino or Pascua Yaqui Indian, a tribe to which Cota-Soto belongs. She said many in her community of 5,500 people were more energized than usual about the election.

“We’re tired of sitting around on our duff. We really want to get to work,” she said.

She was quick to cheer first-time voters as they emerged with their “I voted” stickers, including Abram Abeyta, 19.

Abeyta, a busboy at a local Mexican restaurant, said he was drawn out to vote for Clinton in the presidential election. And while he wasn’t contacted by any campaigns or advocacy groups seeking his vote, he had another influential motivator.

“My dad told me I should vote,” he said.

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Urban Outfitters apologizes for spreading false voting instructions

Urban Outfitters apologized Tuesday morning after sharing incorrect voting information on the company’s Twitter account with its 1 million followers.

The clothing retailer had shared a link Monday to a “handy guide for your reference” on its website that encouraged Americans to vote and offered free “I Voted” buttons at its stores. But the guide told voters they needed a “voter registration card” and ID to vote.

No states require voters to show registration cards to vote. Some states require ID to vote. And some states accept voter registration cards as ID.

Social media users and election monitors including Electionland, a project led by the nonprofit news site ProPublica, quickly caught the error.

Urban Outfitters deleted the tweet and issued an apology Tuesday morning.

“This blog post was written by a member of our content team who made a mistake in researching the voting requirements. When this error was brought to our attention, we immediately updated the post to not only correct the information but also included an additional link for state-by-state voter ID requirements for readers to reference,” the Philadelphia-based company said in a statement.

“We are deeply sorry for any confusion this error may have caused. In the future, we will be installing more stringent fact-checking procedures to ensure these types of error do not happen.”

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Remember, Californians can’t write in just anyone for president and expect it to count

Candidates have to qualify to be official write-in candidates in California. Here are your choices:

  • Laurence Kotlikoff for president and Edward Leamer for vice president
  • Mike Maturen for president and Juan Muñoz for vice president

  • Evan McMullin for president and Nathan Johnson for vice president

  • Bernard “Bernie” Sanders for president and Tulsi Gabbard for vice president

  • Jerry White for president and Niles Niemuth for vice president

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Clinton supporter: Election makes me ‘afraid that racism will be back in’

It’s made me feel afraid — afraid that we will go back to the Jim Crow laws, afraid that racism will be back in.

— Patricia Dykes, 49, of Charlotte, N.C.

We’re talking to people across America as this contentious presidential election comes to a close.

Hear more of what people told us and share your own video >>

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The glass ceiling awaits Hillary Clinton on election day

Hillary Clinton spent election day working the phones and giving radio interviews to make a few last pitches to voters.

One of her interviews was broadcast in North Carolina, a crucial battleground state where Clinton held her final rally of the campaign.

After more than a year of being quizzed about controversial issues, Clinton was asked about one more: Duke vs. North Carolina?

Clinton will eventually make her way to the Javits Center in Manhattan for an election-night party.

The location is freighted with symbolism -- after spending the campaign talking about trying to break the “glass ceiling” by becoming the first female president, she’ll stand under a literal glass ceiling.

Depending on the election results, that will be the site of Clinton’s victory or concession speech.

Clinton has been in high spirits as the election draws to a close, and her advisors have pointed to early voting results they say bode well for the campaign. After a marathon final day of campaigning on Monday, they returned to White Plains after 3 a.m.

Clinton was greeted by scores of supporters and campaign staffers who had huddled on the tarmac, staying warm and awake with coffee while waiting for her arrival.

Her top advisors applauded and embraced each other as Clinton greeted the crowd.

“I believe that she will win!” they chanted.

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What’s at stake in this election for L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti

Mayor Garcetti does homeless outreach in Hollywood.
(Steve Lopez/Los Angeles Times)

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti doesn’t face reelection until spring, but he has a lot riding on the results of two local ballot measures Tuesday.

He has aggressively campaigned for Measure M, which would help expand the county’s transit system via a new sales tax, and Proposition HHH, which would raise $1.2 billion for homeless housing in the city. Voter approval of both could give him two significant accomplishments to tout if he seeks a possible run for governor or U.S. senator, as many expect he will.

Since taking office in 2013, Garcetti’s top policy achievements have been the passage of a citywide earthquake retrofitting program, a higher minimum wage and his push for a new statewide entertainment tax credit program.

However, traffic and homelessness are two urgent, high-profile problems in the city, and passage of both measures would boost his political resume.

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In some cases, voters in North Carolina face emotional decisions

A young woman walked toward a polling station, tears trickling down her cheeks as she struggled with her choice on election day.

“I don’t really believe in who I’m going to vote for,” said C.N. Martin, a 35-year-old African American, her voice shaking as she approached a polling station in a neighborhood north of downtown Charlotte.

“Donald Trump is backed by the Klan,” Martin said of the Republican presidential candidate, wiping her eyes. “So I’m going to go vote for this woman, and she’s going to support wars, and that’s not what I believe in.”

Martin, who said she works in customer service, had resolved not to vote in this election, but decided – reluctantly – to vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton.

North Carolina is one of the nation’s tightest battleground states, and Democrats have long set their sights on mobilizing enough African Americans here to put Clinton in the White House.

According to the latest figures from Monday’s RealClearPolitics average of North Carolina polls, Trump had taken a narrow lead in the state in the campaign’s final days. This is partly because early voting turnout among African American voters was down 8% from 2012 when Mitt Romney defeated Barack Obama by 2 percentage points to win the state, according to data from the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

How many African Americans show up at the polls today may shape the future of the nation.

“We won’t win this election, potentially, if we don’t win North Carolina,” President Obama told Clinton supporters at a rally last week in Chapel Hill. “I hate to put a little pressure on you, but the fate of the republic rests on your shoulders.”

At the Oaklawn Language Academy polling station in north Charlotte, some African American voters were enthused about Clinton.

“I’m just fired up and ready to go,” said Patricia Dykes, 49, a black home care business owner from Charlotte who wore a Hillary button as she came out of the polling station.

Terrance Hobbs, 32, a media specialist for a pro sports firm, said independents like him found it difficult to settle on a candidate.

In the end, he said, he had leaned toward Clinton because of her experience, as well as his view that Trump was a “clear-cut bigot.”

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Clinton wins Guam in vote that doesn’t count — but should it?

Hillary Clinton won’t gain any delegates for her resounding victory in the tiny U.S. island of Guam today, but it bodes well for her nonetheless.

The territory way out west of the international dateline has been a reliable barometer of how the U.S. election will go in almost every presidential race for the last 32 years. Voters there express their preference in a straw poll. Unlike in the presidential primaries, where Guam’s vote actually counts, in the general election, Guam and other U.S. territories have no say.

Still, thousands of people turn out. Clinton won nearly 72% of the 32,071 ballots cast Tuesday. Trump got 24% of the vote. The only year Guam did not predict the U.S. president was the year an election-day typhoon disrupted voting in 1996. Bill Clinton already had been declared the winner by the time Guam voted that year.

Guam is among several U.S. territories that have no representation in the electoral college. The lack of say for the millions of residents of U.S territories, which include Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa, has been a source of constant protest by those disenfranchised residents. The voting rights of residents in the territories are slightly different from those people who live in Washington, D.C. Washingtonians do have a say in who is elected president, but they do not have any voting representatives in Congress.

Leaders and activists in the territories and in Washington have filed various complaints and lawsuits over the years seeking full representation. Their cause has attracted the attention of human rights watchdogs at the United Nations and the Organization of American States.

And comedian John Oliver took aim at the disenfranchisement during a segment of his HBO show last year, when he criticized as racist the laws that prevent the people in the U.S. territories from fully participating in American democracy.

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Clinton supporter: This election ‘makes me proud to be alive’

It makes me proud to be alive. But it also fills me with so much anxiety and fear and hope. Hope for the future and then, at the very next moment, just gut-wrenching pain.

— Camilla Millican, 56, of Greensboro, N.C.

We’re talking to people across America as this contentious presidential election comes to a close.

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Where do we vote in L.A. County? A mortuary? A fraternity house? A laundromat?

A harpist plays for voters inside the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel in 2014.
A harpist plays for voters inside the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel in 2014.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

On election day, many people in Los Angeles County will vote in familiar settings such as recreation centers, schools or churches. But some might find themselves at more unusual polling places.

They could end up inking their ballots in someone’s garage, or even in a mortuary. Some country clubs and even a couple of fraternity houses are among the more than 4,500 polling places in the county. In Long Beach, some residents might decide to bring their laundry along when they vote since their polling place is a Super Suds laundromat.

One of the more unique polling places once again is at the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel, where voters will be able to enjoy a 10-minute yoga sequence and meditation session, followed by hors d’oeuvres and refreshments -- all while listening to live sitar music. They won’t have to search for parking. The hotel will offer a complimentary valet.

The Luxe took the same approach in 2014, offering voters lamb chops and harp music.

Unsure about your polling place? You can look it up.

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Trump votes, says ‘we’ll see what happens’ after TV networks call the race

Donald Trump casts his ballot at a Manhattan elementary school on Tuesday morning.
(AFP/Getty Images)

Donald Trump was tight-lipped this morning about whether he will concede to Hillary Clinton if the television networks call the presidential race for her.

“We’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters following the Republican nominee as he voted in New York.

He cast his ballot at a machine on the basketball court at Manhattan’s Public School 59, walking away with a smile on his face.

“Tough decision,” he told a reporter standing nearby. His wife, Melania, and his daughter, Ivanka, accompanied him as he cast his vote.

Afterward, Trump got a mixed sendoff, as people gathered on a city street outside the school offered a mix of cheers and boos for him.

“No, Donald!” one person yelled above the boos, as someone else leaned in to cheer and flash a big thumbs-up to the GOP candidate.

Trump smiled and waved at the whole scene, returning the thumbs-up before climbing into his car to leave.

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L.A. middle-schoolers vote for president. Guess who wins?

Brian Simily, a U.S. history teacher at Woodland Hills Academy middle school, wants students to learn the importance of voting — long before they are old enough to vote for real.

On Thursday, he helped set up a presidential election at the school, with each grade a precinct.

The majority of students at the school are Latino. More than 500 voted. One candidate won by a landslide.

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Trump supporter: This election ‘makes me feel hopeful’

Things are turning around, and this Nov. 8th is gonna be the first step in rebuilding this country.

— Michael Paulus, 66, of Laguna Niguel

We’re talking to people across America as this contentious presidential election comes to a close.

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In changing North Carolina, voters take their swing-state status seriously in deciding elections

David and Kelly Filippis voted for Donald Trump on Tuesday in Raleigh, N.C.
(Lisa Mascaro/Los Angeles Times)

Voters in battleground North Carolina are seeing demographic changes in their state that have put it within reach of either Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

“As our state evolves, I’m excited to see people adjust to the fact we are no longer Jim Crow North Carolina,” said Renee Adams, 45, an addiction counselor and mother of three, at Clinton’s election eve midnight rally in Raleigh. “It’s history in the making – why not start election day celebrating what’s going to be one of the most memorable times in U.S. history?”

Ian Bowater, a writer and playwright from Britain, who for decades considered himself “a man of the world,” was so moved by the Tar Heel state’s status that he became a U.S. citizen this year so he could vote for the first time. He cast an early ballot for Clinton. “Here your vote really counts,” he said.

Trump supporter Jim Zagrobelny, volunteering at a Raleigh polling station Tuesday, said he has kept his views largely to himself because “it’s nonstop acrimony” this election. “I feel like I will have done what I could do. We’re in God’s hands.”

Kelly and Dave Filippis raised their family here and prefer Trump’s brash style over Clinton’s long record. “Find me one male president who’s not a narcissist,” said Kelly Filippis, a jewelry designer. after voting Tuesday for the Republican.

But Geisha Brooks, who cast her first ballot for President Obama eight years ago, brought her four daughters to the polling site Tuesday to be part of history as she voted for Clinton.

“We’ve come far as a country, but we have much to do,” said the hospital nurse’s aide. “I live in the South. We’ll see.”

Geisha and Nicholas Brooks, with their daughters, voted for Hillary Clinton on Tuesday in Raleigh.
(Lisa Mascaro/Los Angeles Times)
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Los Angeles’ mayor votes

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They’re lining up to vote in L.A.

Voters in Los Angeles County were up bright and early Tuesday, with many getting in line before polling sites opened at 7 a.m.

People took to social media to complain of long lines, broken equipment and confusion over the voter rolls.

Voting locations will remain open until 8 p.m.

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Clinton supporter: ‘I couldn’t believe how ugly things had gotten’

It made me feel like this country has gone backwards. I could not believe comments I was hearing. I couldn’t believe how ugly things had gotten.

— Christine Maclin, 62, of Atlanta

We’re talking to people across America as this contentious presidential election comes to a close.

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Some voters find it impossible to pull the lever for either candidate

Mike Governor, a 52-year-old construction worker, hasn’t missed an election since he was old enough to vote.

This year will be the exception. The White Plains, N.Y., resident said he couldn’t support Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.

And voting for a third-party candidate just seemed like a waste of time.

“This is the saddest election we’ve ever had in my lifetime,” he said. “Nothing was talked about except for nonsense.”

Governor viewed Trump as completely unqualified for the Oval Office.

“I wouldn’t want him to be a manager in a store,” he said.

And Clinton?

“I can’t trust her,” Governor said. “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. There’s too many scandals.”

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Some L.A. County voters got mail-in ballots with someone else’s name

San Li inspects a mail-in ballot before it is counted on June 10, 2016, at the Sacramento County Registrar of Voters office.
(Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

An unidentified system error is being blamed for mixing up the names and addresses on absentee ballots in Los Angeles County, leaving many voters with few options on election day.

After The Times reported on one voter who received a ballot addressed to the wrong person, more than a dozen other voters reached out to say they, too, received ballots with someone else’s name listed above their address.

Brenda Duran, a spokeswoman for the L.A. County registrar-recorder/county clerk’s office, said officials did not know how many voters are affected.

“We’re aware of it and working with voters on an individual basis to deliver replacement ballots,” she said.

Anyone who received a mail-in ballot for another voter’s name on it can go to a polling place today and vote provisionally, Duran said.

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How similar are you to California’s voters?

Play around with our new interactive showing how Golden State voters view the presidential race, the Senate contest, their members of Congress and some of the hottest ballot measures.

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Taking a selfie with your ballot in California is still punishable by jail time

If you’re going to the polls today and are excited about sharing your vote via social media, you may want to stop and think before tapping that camera button.

So-called ballot selfies — taking pictures of yourself with your filled-out ballot — are still illegal in California, even though a state bill to allow them passed earlier this year. That bill won’t go into effect until Jan. 1, and last week a federal judge in California denied the ACLU’s request to allow selfies in Tuesday’s election.

Can’t control that loose trigger finger? It could theoretically cost you. According to California’s Elections Code, any person who “interferes or attempts to interfere with the secrecy of voting” is guilty of a felony, and could be punished with two, three or four years in county jail. (If you’ve already committed a serious or violent felony or are required to register as a sex offender, you would serve your time in state prison.)

That’s just on the criminal side. The secretary of state, attorney general or a local election official could also bring a civil action against you carrying a penalty of up to $50,000.

But all of that is unlikely. Sam Mahood, press secretary for Secretary of State Alex Padilla, said in an emailed statement that his office was not aware of anyone in California ever being prosecuted for taking a ballot selfie.

The state’s longstanding ban on photos at the ballot box and on sharing the content of your ballot in general originated because of efforts to prevent vote-buying and voter coercion, in case a voter tried to use a photo as proof of voting a certain way. But federal judges have struck down bans in Indiana and New Hampshire in recent years, saying they violated the 1st Amendment, and groups like the ACLU say the prohibition is outdated.

You might agree with that, but if you want to be safe, just wait until 2017. You can still use your smartphone in the voting booth to look at notes, research candidates and take a selfie with your “I Voted” sticker.

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Undecided voter: We’re ‘stuck in a bad position’

It’s kind of a crapshoot. Neither one of them really has shown an ability to do anything correctly, or for us. I feel like we should’ve made a lot better choices; we are just kind of stuck in a bad position now.

— Chris Wilson, 29, of Norwalk, Iowa

We’re talking to people across America as this contentious presidential election comes to a close.

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Clinton supporter: ‘This election has made me feel fearful’

This election has made me feel fearful, afraid, concerned because what I hear from Donald Trump is taking us back as a country.

— Jose Huizar, 48, of Los Angeles, voting for Clinton

We’re talking to people across America as this contentious presidential election comes to a close.

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Topless protesters arrested at Trump’s polling place

Donald Trump wasn’t scheduled to arrive at his polling place until late morning on Tuesday, but the public school in Manhattan was filled with commotion hours earlier as two women ripped off their shirts in protest.

Photos snapped by the New York Daily News show the women had written lewd slogans across their chests, which they exposed in the crowded gymnasium where Trump was to vote later in the day. Some of the messages scrawled across the womens’ bodies appeared to be a reaction to the leaked audiotape in which Trump boasts of his unwanted sexual advances.

According to the Daily News, the protest went on for about half a minute before the women were arrested.

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Will Orange County turn blue?

(Priya Krishnakumar / Los Angeles Times)

Orange County, a bastion of conservatism, may vote for a Democrat for president on Tuesday for the first time in 80 years.

It would be a remarkable shift for the home of Richard Nixon, the cradle of Ronald Reagan’s career and, for decades, a virtual synonym for the Republican Party of California.

The possibility is driven by two forces – demographic changes that have made the county more diverse, and GOP nominee Donald Trump’s trouble with college-educated voters, notably women.

It’s a shift that is taking place in affluent, white suburban enclaves across the nation, from Chester County outside Philadelphia to Gwinnett County east of Atlanta.

But it has particular symbolism in Orange County. If Hillary Clinton wins there, she would be the first Democrat to win the county since the Great Depression.

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Why one Florida politician won’t give up on Jeb Bush for president in 2016

It’s not just congressional Republicans who are having a hard time with the top of the ticket.

John Couriel, a Republican running for Sen. Marco Rubio’s old seat in the Florida legislature, said he expects his nominally Republican district to go for Hillary Clinton by “quite a bit.”

Though Republicans outnumber Democrats in the district, President Obama narrowly won it in 2012. But the district has a high number of Latinos among its registered Republicans, many of them higher income, two groups Trump has had difficulty wooing.

“Our Republican base hasn’t known quite what to do with Donald Trump,” Couriel said.

Couriel’s solution to the thorny question? He voted for Jeb Bush, the former governor who dropped out of the race during the GOP primary.

As long as he’s in fantasy land, why not pick Rubio? Couriel said he chose Rubio for U.S. Senate. But noted he got his start in politics writing speeches for Bush.

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Trump supporter: America ‘needs to just open its eyes’

I’m very confused about why America cannot see that it needs to, you know, awaken itself. It needs to just open its eyes.

— Cynthia Estrada, 58, voting for Trump

We’re talking to people across America as this contentious presidential election comes to a close.

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One last look at the polls: Hillary Clinton’s lead is holding steady

Hillary Clinton in Cleveland with LeBron James on Sunday.
Hillary Clinton in Cleveland with LeBron James on Sunday.
(Phil Long / Associated Press)

Today’s the day when the old cliche is true: The only poll that counts is the one on election day.

So what do the final election day polls show for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump? Well, pretty much what they’ve been showing.

“Our polls have shown Clinton’s lead in the national popular vote to be remarkably stable despite the many apparent twists and turns in the campaign,” said Jon Cohen, the chief research officer for SurveyMonkey.

“All fall, Clinton has maintained a lead over Trump, with her margin hovering in a narrow band between four and six percentage points.”

SurveyMonkey has polled more than 1 million Americans over the last 11 months, providing a pool of data that is bigger than any previous effort. Its final poll sits at the high end of what it has found for the year, showing Clinton leading Trump 47% to 41%, with 6% for Gary Johnson, the Libertarian nominee, and 3% for Jill Stein of the Green Party.

Overall, SurveyMonkey estimates Clinton’s chances of winning at 96%.

The final ABC/Washington Post tracking poll offers a very similar look — 47% for Clinton, 43% for Trump in a two-way contest. In the four-way matchup, the survey shows Clinton at 49%, Trump 46%, Johnson 4% and Stein 1%.

The IBD tracking poll, which generally has shown stronger results for Trump, offers a split verdict — Clinton ahead by one point in the two-way matchup, Trump ahead by two in the four-way.

The USC/LA Times “Daybreak” tracking poll, which consistently has shown a stronger result for Trump than any of the other surveys, has him ahead by three points, 47% to 44%. That’s down two points since yesterday. The poll has a considerable lag time, so it’s likely just now beginning to show the bounce-back for Clinton that some other surveys showed earlier this week.

Several other national surveys released on Monday were consistent with a Clinton lead of about four points. She was ahead by that amount in surveys by CBS, Fox News and YouGov. Polls by Reuters and Bloomberg both had Clinton ahead by three points, while a final poll by Monmouth University had her up by six.

Finally, a last few polls in battleground states offered a similar view: Clinton led by one or two points in three nonpartisan polls conducted in Florida. Three final polls in North Carolina resulted in a tie, a one-point lead for Clinton and a two-point lead for her.

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Californians, take this with you to vote: The 17 ballot propositions explained

Voting is underway in California and you have a dizzying list of propositions to consider today. Print this guide and take it to the voting booth or load it up as you fill out your ballot at home.

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Uh-oh. You messed up or forgot to mail in your L.A. County mail-in ballot. Now what?

Mail-in ballot sorting in Santa Clara County.
(Macio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press)

Maybe you got your mail-in ballot weeks ago but never sat down to vote, or forgot to put your completed ballot in the mail. What do you do now that it’s election day? Have you lost your chance to do your civic duty?

Not at all, says the L.A. County register-recorder/county clerk. You still have options.

You can drop off your mail-in ballot at a polling place. It’s easy to search for the location nearest you.

And you can still mail it in. As long as a mail-in ballot has been postmarked by election day Tuesday and received within three days, it must be counted by state law. Here’s how to check if your ballot has made it in.

Say you got distracted or confused and filled out your ballot incorrectly. There’s also an easy fix for that. It’s too late to ask for a replacement ballot. But you can go to your polling place, surrender your mail-in ballot -- which will be destroyed -- and then vote the old-fashioned way at the polls.

That also works if you got a mail-in ballot but changed your mind and decided you want to vote in person. Just make sure you bring your mail-in ballot with you to hand over. That’s important because it assures poll workers you’re not voting twice.

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How California became a blue state again

California hasn’t always been a lock for the Democratic presidential nominee. Republicans won the state in nearly every presidential election between 1952 and 1988. Ahead of an election that could see more blue in the Golden State than ever before, here’s a look at how Democrats gained, lost and won back California.

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Here’s what we’re watching on election day in Los Angeles

A voter studies his ballot Monday while at the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder office in Norwalk.
(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

The big day has finally arrived.

After a divisive campaign season, voters across Southern California will cast their ballots today.

For those who have not taken advantage of early voting, polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. The secretary of State’s website has a helpful tool to find the address of your local polling place.

Here’s what reporters at The Times are tracking:

  • City leaders have asked voters to support Proposition HHH, which would authorize $1.2 billion over a decade to build 10,000 apartment units for homeless people. As the city confronts an escalating homeless crisis, will voters back the housing bond?
  • Voters across L.A. County also will decide whether to approve Measure M, which would increase the sales tax by a half-cent and provide at least $860 million per year to fund transit projects. The tax would jump to 1 cent in 2039 and remain in place indefinitely.
  • Term limits have forced out two longtime members of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, leaving U.S. Rep. Janice Hahn squaring off against Steve Napolitano to replace the seat currently held by Supervisor Don Knabe. In northeast L.A. County, Kathryn Barger is up against Darrell Park in the race to succeed longtime Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich.
  • Voters in L.A. also will weigh in on Measure JJJ, a housing proposition that adds new requirements to the number of below-market units in housing developments, and Measure RRR, which aims to reform the Department of Water and Power.
  • County officials, meanwhile, have put Measure A before voters. The measure would raise property taxes 1.5 cents per square foot of building area indefinitely. The measure could generate nearly $95 million per year to support public parks.

We’ll also post results on key races and ballot measures across the state:

  • Two ballot measures before San Diego voters could decide funding for a new Chargers stadium.
  • A costly and highly contested race pits incumbent Andrew Do against Michele Martinez for the first district seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors.
  • Burbank’s Measure B asks voters to approve a plan to replace the terminal at the Hollywood Burbank Airport, previously known as the Bob Hope Airport.
  • A fractious effort to recall two members of the Yorba Linda Water District would replace two other members of the five-member board.

Need help with your vote? The L.A. Times’ Editorial Board — a separate division from news reporters — has evaluated key races and offered recommendations.

Photo gallery: America goes to the polls

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Clinton supporter: ‘I embrace the inevitable growth and transformation’

The election has made me feel all of the stages normally associated with grief.... It has shed light on topics for the masses that have never been in the shadows for the minority. While I resent the turmoil, I embrace the inevitable growth and transformation we, as a nation, will undergo as a result of this circus.

— Rachel Drew, 44 of Bothell, Wash., voting for Clinton

We’re talking to people across America as this contentious presidential election comes to a close.

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Recreational marijuana could be legal in California as soon as tomorrow

Proposition 64 spells out how California will regulate and tax the growth, transportation and sale of marijuana for recreational use.

If it passes, Californians will be able to possess and grow marijuana immediately.

But the ballot measure is a detailed and complicated document, 62 pages long. We’ve read it so you don’t have to. See the highlights.

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Donald J. Trump Jr. says his father will concede if it’s a fair loss

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Reminder: If you’re in California, you may get paid time off to vote

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Squeezed for time to cast your vote today? If you’re in California, you may be eligible for some paid time off.

Employees who do not have sufficient time to vote outside their working hours are entitled to up to two hours’ paid time off to head to the polls.

The California secretary of state’s office notes that you can take as much time as you need, but two hours is the max you can be paid for. Your employer can require you to give advance notice to get time off for voting, and you may have to do it at the beginning of your shift.

If you see anything unusual once you get to the polls, let us know by texting CALIFORNIA VOTES to 69866.

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Joe Biden casts his vote in Delaware

Vice President Joe Biden and wife Jill cast their votes early this morning in their hometown of Wilmington, Del.

Taking selfies and greeting other voters at the polls, the vice president told people it’s a beautiful day to get out and cast their ballots, according to a pool report from Gannett.

“The bad news is I’m not going away,” Biden said. He said that post-election he plans to stay vocal in the fight for income equality.

He also told reporters to keep a watch on Florida tonight.

Photo gallery: America goes to the polls

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Don’t fear the meter maid within a block of your L.A. polling place

(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Is your polling place on a busy street with lots of parking restrictions? Do you want to drive because you’ll be in a rush but worry that if you drive, it might be hard to park?

On election day, the city of L.A. offers a helping hand. While the polls are open, the Los Angeles Police Department and the city’s Department of Transportation will relax the parking rules within a block of each polling place.

That means you don’t have to put money in parking meters or observe their time limits. And street cleaning restrictions and permit-parking restrictions also will not be observed.

But remember: The relaxed rules apply only within a block of a polling place. And they still don’t allow you to block a driveway or park in front of a fire hydrant.

Photo gallery: America goes to the polls

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Clinton casts her historic vote, pledging to ‘do the very best I can’ if elected

Hillary Clinton waded into a mob of well-wishers at her polling place on Tuesday morning, all gathered to watch the first female nominee of a major party cast a vote for herself.

Hillary and Bill Clinton shook hands, posed for selfies and hugged supporters before casting their ballots at the Chappaqua, N.Y., voting site

“I will do the very best I can,” Clinton told one reporter, “if I am fortunate enough to win today.”

Trailing in her wake, Bill Clinton was asked how he might feel about being the first spouse.

“I’ve had 15 years of practice,” he said with a grin.

Photo gallery: America goes to the polls

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Election day in L.A. County: Am I registered? Where do I vote?

Election day is here at last. Maybe you’ve put off checking whether you’re registered, where you vote or what the Los Angeles County poll hours are.

The office of the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk has a lot of useful information on its website.

You can look up your registration status.

You can look up your polling place.

You even can check to see whether your mail-in ballot has been processed.

And for those of you who are voting for the first time and not sure how it works, there’s even a primer on the InkaVote system the county uses.

The polls are open today from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. As long as you’re in line by 8 p.m., you won’t be turned away.

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Obama observes his election day ritual for Hillary Clinton

President Obama is doing his utmost to elect Hillary Clinton, and on election day morning, that means playing basketball.

The president took off for one of his favorite courts this morning to play with pals, and not just to loosen up and relax.

He played basketball on every election day in his own run for president, with one exception: the day of the 2008 New Hampshire primary, which he lost to Clinton.

He hasn’t skipped a game since.

On Tuesday, he arrived at 7:57 a.m., meeting the “morning” requirement of the ritual. If tradition holds, there will be no readout of who won or lost the game at Ft. McNair, but friends say the game’s outcome doesn’t matter.

The ritual is, he just has to show up.

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East Coast voters tweet, Instagram long lines on election morning

Voters up and down the East Coast lined up early to cast their votes on election day. People tweeted and Instagrammed long lines of those getting in their ballot choices before heading to work.

Photo gallery: America goes to the polls

Posts come from Boston; Pennsylvania; Columbia, S.C.; Washington, D.C.; Virginia; New York and more. But this show of an early surge in turnout through social media remains anecdotal.

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Bring the L.A. Times list of endorsements with you to the polls

Early voting in San Jose.
(Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press)

So many ballot measures. So many names. How do you keep them all straight when it’s time to vote?

Our complete list of Los Angeles Times endorsements can help. You might want to look it over, maybe even print it out and carry a copy with you.

It includes our editorial board’s choices in the races for president, senator, judicial seats and the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, along with our takes on all manner of measures -- statewide, countywide and citywide. Click on each endorsement and you’ll be able to dig deeper to find out just exactly why the board made its choice.

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What does Santa want for election day?

Don’t forget about sharing and caring. That’s the message from Santa Claus as we wrap up this contentious election cycle.

Sure, it’s a little early for this guy to be making the rounds. But I ran into him this weekend in Torrance and asked for his thoughts on what has been a rather contentious election. (Some might even say there was a lot more “naughty” than “nice” throughout.)

So what does Santa say he wants this election season? A return to some of the lessons of childhood.

Hear more of what people told us and share your own video >>

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Tim Kaine says Hillary Clinton will reach out to those who ‘don’t see the path for themselves’

Democrat Tim Kaine said that he and Hillary Clinton have already talked about how to unite the country after a divisive campaign, and they’re thinking about how to reach out to their supporters and non-supporters alike.

“In the tone of the things that we say, in the team that we put together, and the policies that we promote, we have to show that we want to govern for all, not just those who voted for us,” the Democratic nominee for vice president said. “And that’s something that Hillary and I have already talked about a good bit and we’ll approach the job that way if we’re fortunate enough to win this evening.”

He made the comment after he and his wife cast their votes at their polling place, the Methodist Home in Richmond, Va. They walked there from their nearby house.

A reporter asked Kaine about comments Vice President Joseph Biden made Monday night that, if Democrats win, they’ll have to take a serious look at what motivated Donald Trump’s voters.

“There are an awful lot of people in the country who still don’t see the path for themselves,” Kaine said, according to an early morning pool report from Laura Vozzella of the Washington Post. “And I think that is the principal concern that we have to speak to -- not just to win over people who might not be supporters -- but we’ve got to speak to it to make sure this country continues to hold a promise that tomorrow’s generation can have it better than their parents did.”

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Californians, here’s everything you might want to know about voting today

(Chris Pietsch / Associated Press)

We figured the 19.4 million Californians who are registered to vote might want some last minute help sorting out that monstrous ballot packed with the presidential race, the Senate contest, congressional and legislative contests and the 17 statewide propositions.

So we’ve done a Q&A on what to expect from California’s ballot, along with a handy list of links to catch up quickly on the races you care about most.

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Donald Trump says he has a few regrets about the campaign, but feels good about election day

Donald Trump says he has a few regrets about the campaign but that he feels good going into election day.

“There’s always regrets,” Trump told “Fox and Friends” this morning, but added, “You just have to go forward.” He did not specify what he regretted.

As the screen showed his son, Eric Trump, voting at an elementary school in Chappaqua, N.Y., Trump said in a phone interview with the Fox crew that he’s proud of all that his children did to try to get him elected.

After the Trumps leave the Chappaqua voting site, Hillary and Bill Clinton are expected to arrive and cast their votes.

Trump’s final message to voters is a simple one, he said.

“We have a great, great country,” Trump said on Fox. “We have tremendous potential.”

Just minutes before, he said something slightly different on Twitter: “TODAY WE MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

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The moment of truth arrives for the USC/L.A. Times tracking poll

The USC/L.A. Times “Daybreak” tracking poll has been the great outlier of the 2016 campaign. Since it started in July, the poll has consistently shown a better result for Donald Trump than other major surveys.

Most of the summer and fall, the poll’s results have been about six points more favorable to the Republican than the polling averages. As of Tuesday morning, the poll’s final forecast for the election shows Trump leading by a little over three percentage points, 46.8%-43.6%.

That’s caused dismay — even outrage — among some readers, especially Democrats, who have denounced it and often criticized The Times for running it.

Tonight, we’ll find out whether it was right or not.

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Trump supporter: ‘People are uninformed’

Robert Peete, 52, Carson. Peete is a Trump supporter.

America is divided and a good portion of the people are uninformed. They’re voting off of 30-second sound bites.

— Rodney Peete, 52 of Carson, voting for Trump

We’re talking to people across America as this contentious presidential election comes to a close.

Hear more of what people told us and share your own video >>

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What Trump and Clinton are telling voters heading to the polls

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Election day begins as polls open on the East Coast

It’s election day morning and some East Coast voters have already cast their votes -- including Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine, who voted in Virginia.

Take a look at our electoral map; The Times’ David Lauter and Mark Z. Barabak project Hillary Clinton to win the race with 352 electoral votes.

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First returns are in -- and Dixville Notch, N.H., goes for Hillary Clinton

The first voters in the nation have spoken, and they want Hillary Clinton for president.

The tiny New Hampshire town of Dixville Notch opened its polls at midnight, and in the early minutes of this morning reported its results: four votes for Clinton, two for Trump.

Other early-voting towns in New Hampshire broke even, with Hart’s Location going for Clinton and Millsfield for Trump.

But as the very first town to report an official vote tally, it’s Dixville Notch that perennial political junkies like to check on.

Eight voters showed up in Dixville Notch, a 100% turnout in the town. One voter voted for Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party candidate, and another wrote in the 2012 GOP nominee, Mitt Romney.

It took a minute for all of them to cast their votes and a few more for the officials to count and post on a white board.

Tom Tillotson, the town moderator, told the Telegraph that he cast the vote for Johnson. He was disappointed with Trump, he told the newspaper.

“I could not support his stand on issues such as immigration or trade,” he said, “and I could not support Hillary Clinton.”

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These voters can’t see how the country can be put together after today

(Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune)

What happens after the election? Can Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump put a fractured nation back together?

Pennsylvania and Ohio are neighboring states where the two parties held their nominating conventions in July and have bombarded voters ever since, to a sour end.

Along the roughly 380 miles from Pittsburgh to Cleveland to Cincinnati, dismayed voters abound. Ask them if either candidate can restore some tranquility to the country, and they answer as one: It’s hard to see how.

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It’s election day. How are you feeling?

So many emotions in so long a campaign season. Now that we’ve finally reached the main event of this presidential race, how is America feeling?

Well, we’ve been asking that very question. We’ve dispatched reporters and photographers across the country, collecting voters’ thoughts as they vote. And the emotions run the gamut, from hope and elation on one end of the spectrum to dread and disgust on the other, across parties and everywhere in between.

For Rachel Drew of Bothell, Wash., the election has triggered the five stages of grief, from the initial denial and isolation all the way through acceptance.

“While I resent the turmoil,” she said, “I embrace the inevitable growth and transformation we, as a nation, will undergo as a result of this circus.”

Here’s a cross-section of how your fellow Americans are feeling today. You can share your own video, too.

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It’s election day in America: Here’s what to expect from the L.A. Times

It’s election day. Finally. So here’s what we’ve got:

We’ll have reporters at Clinton’s headquarters and with Donald Trump’s campaign — both staging final events in New York City less than two miles from each other. See our final presidential projection from David Lauter and Mark Z. Barabak, with no toss-up states in the mix.

Mexico correspondent Kate Linthicum will be hanging out with Mexicans who are just as anxious as Americans to find out the presidential results, and Las Vegas-based correspondent David Montero will be at the party for long-shot candidate Evan McMullin in Utah.

Our reporters will be on the ground in swing states, talking to voters about how this contentious election has made them feel and where the country can go from here. We’ll also be tracking voting issues, such as long lines, with Electionland. (If you see any problems, text ELECTIONLAND to 69866.)

As the results start to roll into our maps, you’ll find tips on how to be an armchair pundit from our results analyst Michael A. Memoli.

We’ve got handy guides to the states that matter most as the Democrats attempt to retake the Senate, and a close look at the most competitive congressional districts.

If you’re voting in California, you can look forward to roundups on the most important things on the ballot, like this guide to California’s 17 propositions.

And here’s something special: If you register with us on latimes.com you can read and watch all of this for free all week long.

Now, see how we got here:

Join us at latimes.com for complete coverage of election day 2016.

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