LOS ANGELES — Earlier this year, during the first crush of the pandemic, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles County jointly announced that Dodger Stadium — a spiritual center of Southland sports — would be one of the first voting mega centers.
On Friday, the stadium finally opened up for voting, giving Angelenos a chance to cast their ballots while overlooking the home field of their hometown World Series champions.
The drive to the top of Dodger Stadium, where the voting center is located, winds to the top of Chavez Ravine and ends in a parking lot with a view of the L.A. skyline on one side and an entrance to Dodger Stadium on the other.
Approaching the voting center, teenage volunteers cheer and beckon voters up the ramps and stairs. Voters pose for pictures beside both retired player numbers and a giant replica of the county’s voting sticker.
Inside the voting center, poll workers and voters alike applauded when first-time voters cast their ballots. Selfies are plentiful inside the voting centers, too — just beyond the machines, voters can look out to the baseball diamond below and take in the rare sight of a completely empty Dodger Stadium.
On Sunday, husband and wife Oscar and Rainy Romero drove up from South Gate to vote at Dodger Stadium.
That’s nothing new — they’ll occasionally cruise up to the stadium in the off-season just to bask in the presence of the ballpark. But this trip carried real significance.
“This is home. This is our backyard. When we come up here and have this experience, it’s not just about the Dodgers, but about community, and the experiences we’ve had here over the years,” Oscar Romero said.
Though they didn’t disclose how they voted, the Romeros clearly feel the weight of the 2020 election.
“It’s an emotional experience. I feel there’s so much at stake,” Rainy Romero said. ”This is not one where you can say ‘oh, my vote doesn’t count.’ This is a crucially important election. This is going to dictate our grandchild’s fate.”
Oscar, 46, said that he’s been surprised by the number of people he knows — atypical voters and first-timers, even around his age — that have gotten engaged in this year’s election. It’s a sign of the times, he said.
“Especially for us; we’re minorities, we’re Latinos, we’re Mexicanos. It’s important for us Latinos to come out and vote,” Rainy said.
The couple posed for one more photo together by the county’s “I voted” monument sign before heading back home. But they planned to be back as soon as the next day, to bring their son back to cast his own ballot.
That's good news to Philip Verbera, a manager for Community and Voter Outreach with L.A. County. Verbera was overseeing the Dodger Stadium site on Sunday, and he’s found that people are "really digging” the opportunity to vote at Dodger Stadium.
“A constant stream. People have been extremely happy about voting here,” Verbera said. The only time he’s seen a line is before the voting center opens in the morning. “So we’ll have 15, 20 people, which seems bigger than it is, because of social distancing,” he said, pointing out the six-foot distance markers for people to stand at while in line.
Though there’s been a constant stream of voters, Verbera said the site hasn’t really been tested yet. But it’s well-prepared — there are about 70 voting machines set up in two spaces, one on either side of the Dodgers team shop. That, he said, is a credit to the collaboration between the Dodgers and the County.
On Tuesday, Election Day, Verbera expects a rush. And he’s ready for it.
“We feel we haven’t even really been pushed yet, because we’ve been prepared. So even if there is a push, we feel we’re ready to handle it,” Verbera said. “If there is a push, I’m just going to be clapping, because that means more participation…the system works when people participate, and healthy elections make healthy communities.”