Primaries Give Way to May Runoffs

The voting results of the Los Angeles Primary Election 2013 were released at 2:25 a.m. Wednesday. L.A. Councilman Eric Garcetti and City Controller Wendy Greuel confirmed their positions in a runoff election for City Mayor coming up in May.

Garcetti led the election receiving 93,978 votes, taking almost 33 percent of the total vote. Greuel came in second receiving 83,308 votes, representing 30 percent of the voters.

Former L.A. lawmaker Mike Feuer led the City Attorney election with 116,883 votes, winning close to 44 percent of the ballots. Carmen Trutanich, the incumbent City Attorney, trailed by approximately 30,000 votes with 80,587 votes. 

For City Controller, the election result showed a close race. Former lawyer Ron Galperin and District 3 Councilman Dennis Zine led the election by a wide margin, with each collecting up to 37 percent of the vote. Galperin eventually came in first with a slight margin, leading the runner-up by 0.09 percent.

In District 9, where USC is located, Curren Price, Jr. and Ana Cuba led a tight race for the district's City Council member. Both candidates will meet again in a May runoff.

Voter turnout for the city's primary election showed that 292,760 out of the total 1,817,107 registered voters.  59.85 percent of the votes were registered at poll ballots, whereas 40.14 percents registered their votes via mail. The mere 16 percent  turnout is expected to improve during the General Election.

Proposition A, which would have increased the city's sales tax by 50 cents, failed to pass the vote. Charter Amendment B, which is the measure on city's solar energy program, on the other hand, passed.