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Incumbent looms as underdog with 24 percent of vote to Hispanic challenger's 33 percent Paired in a May runoff against a familiar political foe, Mayor James Hahn on Wednesday promised to win over droves of voters who snubbed him in the primary while city Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa plunged into battleground neighborhoods where his campaign stumbled four years ago. Hahn emerged from Tuesday's 12-candidate primary with second place after a third contender bowed out Wednesday morning, forcing a May 17 rematch of a bitter 2001 race between the two Democrats. Hahn, who is trying to shake off allegations of City Hall corruption and a mannequin image, carried a meager 24 percent of Tuesday's vote and narrowly avoided becoming the first sitting mayor to be ousted in more than three decades. Villaraigosa, who could become the city's first Hispanic mayor since 1872, received 33 percent of the vote. While the names are the same this time, the political geometry has shifted. Last time, Hahn united an unlikely coalition of blacks in South Los Angeles and moderate-to-conservative voters in the San Fernando Valley. Hahn depicted Villaraigosa as a soft on crime, an attack he was slow to parry. This year, Villaraigosa has been quicker to respond. He entered the runoff as a tentative favorite after capturing the largest share of the vote, his standing bolstered by an exit poll that showed his support grew beyond a Hispanic base to bring in a greater share of Jews, blacks and critical valley voters. [more]

Federal election monitors note a few problems in L.A.’s election last week
Los Angeles’ well-documented failure to make elections accessible for immigrant voters prompted a visit from the U.S. Department of Justice to monitor last Tuesday’s city election. Among the complaints heard by the Civil Rights Division: lack of bilingual assistance, late poll openings and poorly trained or rude poll workers. The monitors informed the city clerk of their intent to review procedures for Election Day, during which 384,489 of 1.47 million registered voters cast a ballot — a 26 percent turnout, down from 33 percent in the 2001 primary election. A Justice Department investigation is under way. City Clerk Frank Martinez said his office received more than 3,000 calls on Election Day, 913 of which resulted in a “trouble ticket,” requiring some sort of response from city representatives in 559 precincts. [more]

The Voting Rights Act requires that certain jurisdictions designated by the Census Bureau afford bilingual voting assistance. Los Angeles was first required to assist Spanish-speaking voters from 1975 to 1984, but was not required to provide assistance again until 1992, when it also was required to assist Chinese, Filipino, Japanese and Vietnamese voters. In 2002, the Census Bureau added a requirement for Korean-language assistance. The Help America Vote Act also requires that voters be instructed on their right to cast a provisional ballot, in the event they show up at a polling place where they are not registered.