USC Health Sciences Campus to serve as voting location


USC’s Health Sciences Campus will serve as a voting center for the 2020 general election, according to a Health Sciences Campus news release. The center, which will be located on the first floor of the Soto 1 building at 2001 N. Soto St., will be active from Oct. 30 through Nov. 3. This is the first time HSC will serve as a polling location for the surrounding community. 

The polling center’s creation comes in part from Annette Gibson, director of ambulatory care for women’s health at Keck Medicine. Gibson, who frequently works with the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s Office, was contacted by the county in September with an urgent request to establish another voting center in the area. 

“I was very excited about the possibility because this is such an important election and people need as many vote centers as possible in their own neighborhoods, especially during a pandemic when some are quarantining,” said Gibson in the news release. “This was also an opportunity to let our local community know we are here to not only meet their health care needs but to support their right to vote.”

After HSC was suggested as a voting center, the county inspected the location to ensure that it fits requirements for square footage and parking among other technicalities. The Soto 1 building was then approved to hold polling for the upcoming election.

The Health Sciences Campus will be one of four voting centers within the ZIP code, according to the release. Along with the area’s residents, Keck Medicine employees and visitors who are residents of L.A. County will also be permitted to vote at the Soto location.

L.A. County will be administering several safety precautions at the voting location to ensure that people can poll with protection. All voting centers in the county will provide face masks, gloves and hand sanitizer to voters. Check-in stations and ballot-marking devices will be physically distanced from each other as well. Voters are also encouraged to further protect themselves by using a face shield or glasses in addition to wearing a mask.

The Galen Center at the University Park Campus will also serve as a polling location for the general election from Oct. 30 through Nov. 3.