Los Angeles County voters will choose between incumbent Sheriff Robert Luna and former Sheriff Alex Villanueva on Tuesday, Nov. 3, in a rematch of their 2022 contest for the top law enforcement job in the nation's largest sheriff's department.

Polls close at 8 p.m. Results will be posted at results.lavote.gov.

Beverly Hills, Bel Air and Holmby Hills each have their own police departments and are not directly patrolled by sheriff's deputies. But the sheriff oversees the county jail system, sets department-wide policy and will help coordinate security for the 2028 Summer Olympics.

The candidates

Luna, 60, a former Long Beach police chief, won the job in 2022 by a margin of about 61% to 39%, according to the Los Angeles Daily News. He again led in the June primary, taking 44.2% of the vote to Villanueva's 21.7%, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Villanueva, 63, served as sheriff from 2018 to 2022 after more than 30 years as a deputy, according to LAist. He switched his party registration from Democrat to Republican during his term, the Times reported.

What's at stake

The Sheriff's Department provides law enforcement to all unincorporated county areas and contracts with 42 of the county's 88 cities, the Times reported. It operates a jail system housing about 14,000 people and manages a budget of roughly $4 billion, according to LAist.

The department faces a federal investigation into conditions at Men's Central Jail, announced Sept. 9 by the U.S. Department of Justice, LAist reported. California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a separate lawsuit in September 2025 alleging unconstitutional conditions inside county jails, according to LAist.

Staffing remains a flashpoint. Sworn vacancies stood at 1,452 as of a recent department fiscal report, up from 1,069 when Luna took office in late 2022, the Times reported. Luna's department said academy graduates rose by nearly a third between 2024 and 2025, to more than 400.

Luna has pointed to declines in violent crime and homicides every year since he took office, with homicides down more than 25% between 2023 and 2025, according to the Times. Villanueva has said the department "has just fallen apart" since he left, LAist reported.

How to vote

Vote centers across L.A. County are open through Nov. 2 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., according to a county press release. On Election Day, hours expand to 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Ballot drop boxes also accept mail ballots until 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Voters with questions can call the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's hotline at 800-815-2666.