Hermosa Residents Vote

As Valley Drive began to get busy shortly before 5 p.m., adults and kids congregated outside the Hermosa Beach Kiwanis Hall, one of 10 polling places in the city.

Hermosa Beach Patch talked with a few residents as the Hall bustled with voters.

One person, Jenna Belcher, a Santa Monica resident, explained to Patch that she was dropping off her ballot on her way to a friend's house in Hermosa.

When vehicles needed to back up onto Valley Drive from the Kiwanis parking lot, a woman headed into the street to guide traffic. 

Hermosa has 13,209 registered voters, with 4,488 of those taking out absentee ballots.

As of 5 p.m., Dean Logan with the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder, reported that 56.85 percent of the county's voters has voted so far, citing a sampling of precincts throughout the county.

The California polling group Field Poll is estimating that there will be one million fewer ballots cast today than on Election Day 2008.  

The pollsters are projecting that 12.75 million Californians will show up to vote, down from 13.74 million in 2008, a turnout of 69.9 percent of registered voters.

The group also suggests that for the first time ever in California there will be more ballots cast by mail - they note that California voting officials report distribution of 9.1 million vote-by-mail ballots and project that 6.5 million voters will mail it in.

For more on their estimates, check out their website.

Dan Abendschein and Sandra Oshiro contributed to this report.

Stay connected with Hermosa Beach Patch throughout the day on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to our free daily newsletter for email updates, including breaking news alerts.