Rush expected for marriage licenses

County clerks across the state braced for continued heavy traffic today, some three days after same-sex marriages became legal in California.

Although officials had anticipated a slowdown after Tuesday’s record-breaking distribution of marriage licenses, many said they continued to see large numbers of couples seeking licenses. Traffic was expected to remain high today, they said, because Friday is a traditionally busy day in the world of marriage licensing.

“Every Friday, it’s our grand finale,” said Karen Hong, director of the San Francisco clerk’s office. “What better way to end the week than to get married?”

A Times survey of all 58 California counties pegged the total number of licenses issued Tuesday and Wednesday at nearly 4,000. That two-day total far exceeded the statewide June average of 2,460.

Marriage licenses were issued to same-sex and heterosexual couples, although county clerks in many locations indicated that the majority handed out Tuesday and Wednesday were to gay couples. New marriage applications replace the terms “bride” and “groom” with “Party A” and “Party B” and do not indicate the sex of the applicants.

So far, Los Angeles County -- with a population of nearly 10 million -- leads the state in the issuance of marriage licenses with 828 for the two-day period. One more was issued Monday night in Beverly Hills.

San Diego County -- with a population of about 3 million -- issued 392 licenses over those two days.

San Francisco County, population 765,000, was a close third with about 380, and Orange County, with nearly 3 million residents, was fourth with 233.

The state Supreme Court struck down California’s ban on same-sex marriage last month, saying the restriction was discriminatory. Opponents of same-sex marriage are now campaigning to amend the state Constitution to ban the practice through a November ballot initiative. It remains unclear whether recently performed same-sex marriages will be invalidated if the initiative is passed by voters.

Despite this, county clerks continue to see a flood of appointments.

Though San Francisco is accustomed to processing about 48 licenses on a busy Friday, today will bring more than 210 couples to the clerk’s office, according to their appointment book.

And in L.A. County, which has had higher-than-average marriage license traffic all week, the registrar-recorder/county clerk has expanded service at the office’s Norwalk headquarters in June.

The Norwalk office will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays through June 27 to issue licenses and will remain open to 8 p.m. to perform marriage ceremonies.

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jp.renaud@latimes.com