Voters cast ballots in Calif. election

Voters near USC filtered into USC Hillel and Cardinal Gardens Tuesday to cast their ballots on a wide range of candidates and initiatives during California’s primary election.

Some of the key matters on the ballot include a senatorial primary, the Los Angeles district attorney race and Proposition 29, which would raise the tax on cigarette packs by $1.

Polls · Ballot stations for California’s primary election on Tuesday stand at the ready in Cardinal Gardens. Ballots included a senatorial primary, two state propositions and a district attorney race. - Briana Humphrey | Summer Trojan

Sara R. Tompson, head of instruction and orientation services at USC Libraries, said she was the only one at Hillel when she voted.

“I was hoping for a couple more, but I wasn’t really surprised since this is a student precinct and so many people are gone in the summer.”

Some students used an absentee ballot to participate in the election. One such student, Tony Martinez, a senior majoring in kinesiology, said he believes it is important to vote.

“You can’t complain about politics unless you put in your vote,” Martinez said.

For Martinez, the propositions were one of the significant matters on the ballot.

“Some of the propositions will be important because they will affect you in some way or another,” Martinez said.

Another initiative on the ballot, Proposition 28, would reduce the maximum amount of time that a politician could serve in the legislature to 12 years, but allow them to serve the full amount of time in either chamber. Currently, legislators can serve a maximum of 14 years: three two-year terms in the Assembly and two four-year terms in the Senate.

Tompson said she thinks more people would participate in the election if the California presidential primaries were scheduled before the nominees had been decided.

“People would like California’s primaries to be earlier,” Tompson said. “We have such a big population so we could make a big impact.”