In November’s election, the results showed that the city of Los Angeles was not what anybody would consider a stronghold for Republicans. However, one small neighborhood in eastern Hollywood turned out to be Trump territory, possibly pushed over the top, as the L.A. Times reports, by Scientologists who have their “Big Blue” headquarters in the precinct.
The precinct is one of only seven among the city’s 1,700 precincts to turn red in 2016, going for Donald Trump by just three votes. Of the precinct’s 1,100 registered voters, half reside at Scientology-owned addresses, with more than 250 of them on L. Ron Hubbard Way. Phone numbers are not required for voter registration, but 170 voters in the precinct volunteered numbers at the Scientology headquarters as their primary contact phone number. Across California, the phone number associated with the most voter registrations state-wide is a Church of Scientology phone number, according to Times research.
One Scientologist who spoke to the Times suggested that there was a particular sense in the community that Clinton would be an advocate for psychiatric programs that run afoul of a major tenant of Scientology beliefs. Others, on condition of anonymity, mentioned that Scientologists may be just more conservative than some of their L.A. neighbors in general.
Scientology spokesperson Karin Pouw, however, refuted the suggestion that her organization had anything to do with the precinct’s Republican trend.
“The Church remained neutral in the presidential election as we always do,” she stated, going on to suggest that the assertions by the Times might “inaccurately suggest a unique trend about a single religion.”
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