By Mary O’KEEFE

June 7 is Election Day. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and if the last few years have taught society anything it is that every vote counts.

Los Angeles County/California registered voters should have already received their vote-by-mail ballots. Those ballots can be mailed or dropped into a mail ballot drop box, which are located throughout LA County.

“If you returned your vote-by-mail ballot without signing the return envelope we will mail you a document called the ‘Unsigned Ballot Statement’ asking for your signature. Your signature is required to verify your identity and process the ballot,” according to lavote.gov.

If the ballot is postmarked by Election Day, June 7, and received within seven days by the Office of the County Clerk it will be processed, verified and counted.

Voters can track their ballot by going to https://www.lavote.gov/av_inquiry.

People can vote in person from now through June 7. Vote centers are open through June 6 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on June 7 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. To find an in-person vote center visit https://tinyurl.com/uczj5jfk or call (800) 815-2666. This website will also show voters the wait times at each location. Go to lavote.net for more information including a list of candidates.

This Election Day is a historical moment for some candidates who are running for various offices of the Superior Court. In the past, some voters may not have been tuned in to those running for Superior Court judge seats; however, things have changed and many are now realizing how important all local government is including those who sit behind the bench.

For two decades Elizabeth Lashley-Haynes has worked as a public defender and is running for judge of the Superior Court Office No. 67. She lives in the Crescenta Valley. She is part of the self-titled Defenders of Justice, which in addition to Lashley-Haynes includes public defenders Holly Hancock and Anna Reitano, and Carolyn “Jiyoung” Park, a private attorney who handles civil rights, labor and tenant matters.

Candidates for Superior Court judge are historically from the Prosecutor’s Office and a few private attorneys.

“Typically [candidates] are with a prosecution background and from the Attorney General’s Office,” Lashley-Haynes said. “Seventy-five to 80% of judges are prosecutors.”

But Lashley-Haynes said that having public defenders on the bench adds a boots-on-the-ground type of perspective.

“We are seeing what is going on in Los Angeles County [which] is overwhelmingly mental health and addiction [issues],” she said.

She said those are the issues that are behind a majority of every case she has dealt with.

“I have seen the cycle of poverty [and] drug abuse and you see those patterns,” she added.

A public defender has a unique view of the court system; they see up close and personal the revolving door of arrest, release, re-arrest.

The candidates who are part of the Defenders of Justice share the same vision because they have dealt with the same issues. So for the first time the four women, three of whom are public defenders, have created a slate of candidates.

“I don’t think anyone has had a slate of judges,” she said. “We are taking a different approach.”

In addition to joining forces they have campaigned together in ways that are unusual.

“It’s been interesting; we have been actively going out into the community,” Lashley-Haynes said of their campaigning.

In addition to campaigning the candidates have participated in educational outreach where they just talk about voting and are not campaigning.

Many people don’t realize how important it is to know the judges to vote for … until they find themselves in front of one.

“All of a sudden you are in front of a judge and you want to know their background,” Lashley-Haynes said. “These judges are your neighborhood judges.”

Judges will end up in local areas, including Glendale, Pasadena and Burbank Superior Courts. They preside over everything from narcotics arrests to divorce.

Lashley-Haynes said these are also the judges who appoint psychologists and treatment centers. She feels the judges on the slate are uniquely qualified to understand those who find themselves in court.

The names of the Defenders of Justice as they appear on the ballot are: Anna Slotky Reitano, who is also a CV resident, is running for judge of the Superior Court Office No. 60; Holly Hancock is running for Superior Court Office No. 70; Carolyn “Jiyoung” Park is running for Superior Court Office No. 118 and Lashley-Haynes for Superior Court Office No. 67.