OC Voters Participate In 'Early Vote Day'

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — Dozens of residents were lined up in Orange County Saturday morning at the county's lone vote center at Laguna Niguel Regional Park. While most of the county's vote centers were set to open, Oct. 30, some residents were still able to partake in Saturday's nationally designated "Vote Early Day 2020."

The campaign is a collaboration between several businesses, popular multimedia organizations and California Secretary of State Alex Padilla to encourage Americans to cast ballots early this year. The event also coincides with the first day many vote centers opened across Southern California.

"Two days after the final presidential debate and ten days before Election Day, Vote Early Day occurs just as the nation as a whole fully tunes into the election and is ready to learn about their voting options," reads a statement on the campaign website.

Vote centers opening Oct. 30 in Orange County are listed here.

Hundreds were lined up in Los Angeles across 100 different vote centers that opened Saturday. Polling locations opening Saturday included large, major entertainment centers, including Banc of California Stadium in Exposition Park, the Forum in Inglewood, Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles and Universal CityWalk in Universal City.

SEE ALSO: Maskless Voters In CA Will Not Be Turned Away On Election Day

The vote center concept replaced the traditional precinct system, which used to require voters to cast ballots at designated locations on Election Day. Election officials hope the availability of vote centers will encourage people to cast their ballots early, reducing the possibility of long lines at polling places on election day.

The three ways to vote in this year's general election are by mail, in person or by using one of the thousands of drop boxes installed statewide to return a vote-by-mail ballot.

Vote center locations are limited compared to last year but have opened earlier, in accordance to a law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in August.

This, along with another law that Newsom signed back in June that required counties to mail ballots to every active and registered voter by Oct. 3, ahead of the Nov. 3 election.

Voters who have already filled out their vote-by-mail ballot can also drop them off at the vote centers.

These changes are meant to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic by doing away with crammed and long spiraling lines to get into polling places on election day.

Although Padilla, Gov. Gavin Newsom and many other election officials have been urging Californians to reduce the spread of COVID-19 by voting by mail, there are still many reasons why a voter may prefer or need assistance voting.

SEE ALSO: CA 2020 Election: Voting In Person; What To Know

In addition to helping prevent long lines, election officials say voting early will also help expedite the process of ballot counting.

The City News Service contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on the Orange County Patch