L.A. voters could dramatically reshape local government. Here’s what to know

Los Angeles voters won’t just be electing officials in November.

There are several measure on local ballots that would bring sweeping changes to the nature of government.

Here are some contests to watch:

Kathryn Barger is among L.A. County’s five supervisors. Measure G would add four more plus a county executive.

(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

For decades, critics have said Los Angeles County government does not work. Just five elected officials run the largest county in the nation, with what many consider a weak central administration.

But numerous efforts to expand the board and give the chief administrator more power have failed.

Now, voters will have another shot.

Measure G would force the supervisors to part with some of their power, sharing the room with four new colleagues and an elected county executive. The county currently has an appointed chief executive officer who reports to the supervisors. Since 1926, voters have rejected the idea of expanding the Board of Supervisors eight times — most recently in 2000.

Protesters disrupt an L.A. City Council meeting in October 2022 after a scandal involving racist leaked audio.

(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

The City Hall scandal involving racist leaked audio put a spotlight on the often ugly redistricting fights at City Hall over City Council district boundaries.

The Times recently reported that California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta had begun pressing Los Angeles political leaders to sign a legal agreement that would force them to draw new boundaries for the city’s 15 council districts.

Voters now have their say. Charter Amendment DD would take the mapmaking process out of the hands of the City Council and turn it over to an independent panel of citizen volunteers.

Meanwhile, Charter Amendment LL would create a comparable process for all the territory within the Los Angeles Unified School District, which stretches well beyond the borders of the city of L.A.

Tents line the sidewalk in a homeless encampment in L.A.’s Rampart Village.

(Miguel Gutierrez Jr. / CalMatters)

Los Angeles voters have in the past backed taxes to help find housing for homeless people. Now the question is: Will they do it again?

The last big vote was in 2017, when Measure H — a quarter-cent sales tax to fund services for homeless people — passed.

Now, a coalition of large nonprofits, providers of services for homeless people, and labor unions is backing a measure that would replace Measure H two years before it expires and raise the tax rate to half a cent. The tax would remain in effect indefinitely unless repealed by voters.

George Gascón, center, participates in a televised debate with Nathan Hochman, left, and moderator Marc Brown.

(Michael Owen Baker / For The Times)

George Gascón swept into office in the aftermath of the racial reckoning over the killing of George Floyd and at a moment when California was deep into an experiment with sweeping criminal justice reform that affected everything from prisons and bail to drug laws and sentencing.

Gascón vowed to remake the district attorney’s office, seeing his election as a mandate for change. But it has been a rocky four years, and Gascón now faces a major challenge not only to his leadership but also to the philosophies he has pushed.

The outcome of this election could bring radical changes to the district attorney’s office.

L.A. voters will also decide on four additional amendments to the city charter: