Long Beach : Precinct Put in 4th District

Ever since the last City Council redistricting, 84 voters in the 5th District of Long Beach have been without a polling place. As a result, they have had to vote by absentee ballot, and they have not been happy about it.

To give them a place to vote, the council is transferring the residents back to the 4th District, where they were originally.

The tiny precinct, north of Stearns Street and east of Studebaker Road, is one of about 10 in Long Beach with too few voters to merit establishment of a polling place under Los Angeles County guidelines. But this is the only one where residents have complained about having to vote absentee, said Lynda Burgess, chief deputy city clerk. “That just threw them for a real loop.”