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.

"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."

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. 

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.

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!”

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.  

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."

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.”

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.