Election day: A long, expensive race to lead L.A. draws to an end

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L.A. mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti greets supporters at the Hollywood Palladium on Tuesday night. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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L.A. mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel and some supporters take the stage during an election night gathering at the old Pacific Stock Exchange. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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L.A. mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti greets supporters at his election night party at the Hollywood Palladium. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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L.A. mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel greets supporters during an election night gathering at the old Pacific Stock Exchange in downtown Los Angeles. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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Former L.A. County Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti greets supporters of his son, L.A. mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti, at an election night party at the Hollywood Palladium. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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Mitch O’Farrell, a candidate for Council District 13, greets supporters at his election night party at the St. Felix Bar in Hollywood. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

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Mike Feuer, right, a candidate for city attorney, gets a hug from his friend Leon Alkalai on election night. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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L.A. mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel is flanked by her son Thomas, 9, and her husband, Dean Schramm, as she monitors election returns at the old Pacific Stock Exchange in downtown Los Angeles. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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Supporters of L.A. mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel gather at the old Pacific Stock Exchange in downtown Los Angeles for an election night gathering. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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John Choi, a candidate for Council District 13, hugs his mother, Myung Choi, on election night at Mohawk Bend Restaurant. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

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“Yes on D” campaign manager Nam Le, left, claps during an election night gathering at Lucky Strike Lanes in Hollywood as the medical pot measure takes an early lead. John Grant, center, and Rick Icaza, both with the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, also show their enthusiasm. The measure would limit the number of pot shops in the city to about 130. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

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Supporters of Proposition D celebrate its early lead at the Lucky Strikes bowling alley in Hollywood. The measure would limit medical marijuana dispensaries to those that existed before the adoption of a failed 2007 moratorium on new pot shops. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

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Betsy Richardson casts her ballot at Los Angeles City Fire Station No. 88 in Sherman Oaks. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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John Monahan is the first to cast his vote at the UFCW Local 770 hall in Harbor City. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

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Barbara Meijers walks out of the Voyager Motor Inn in Van Nuys after casting her ballot Tuesday. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Paul Maes walks away from the polling booth to turn in his ballot as he carries his dog, Rocko, next to a leaping dolphin at the Cetacean Society building at Point Fermin Park in San Pedro. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

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Jay Goldfard of Encino walks past empty voting booths after bringing his mail-in ballot to Los Angeles City Fire Station No. 88 in Sherman Oaks. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Where to hang the flag? Poll workers Esperanza Gaytan, left, Mathew Klempa and Barry Copilow, holding the flag, try to decide on the right spot at Allesandro Elementary School in Silver Lake. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Deborah Murphy tries to control her dog Fiona while voting at Allesandro Elementary School. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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A sign hangs from the wheelchair of Marcelo Nuno Aceves as he casts his ballot at the Hollenbeck Park Recreation Center in the Boyle Heights. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

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Cindy White casts her vote for Wendy Greuel at Sinai Temple on Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti and wife Amy Wakeland hug before casting their ballots at Allesandro Elementary School in Silver Lake. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Wendy Greuel watches as her son, 9-year-old Thomas Schramm, submits her ballot at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Studio City. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti, with wife Amy Wakeland, casts his ballot at Allesandro Elementary School in Silver Lake. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Wendy Greuel watches as her son, Thomas Schramm, places an “I Voted” sticker on her jacket. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Eric Garcetti speaks to reporters after casting his ballot in Silver Lake. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Wendy Greuel, with husband Dean Schramm, answers questions outside her polling place in Studio City. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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City Atty. Carmen Trutanich jokes with his daughter, Kristin, and her son Nathan, 14 months, before he casts his ballot in Harbor City. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

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Esperanza Gonzalez checks her ballot after voting at the Hollenbeck Park Recreation Center in Boyle Heights. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

By Michael Finnegan and Seema Mehta

May 21, 2013 6:17 AM PT

After years of campaigning, and months of debating and handshaking by the candidates, the time is finally upon Los Angeles voters to choose their next mayor.

Polls are set to open at 7 a.m. for an election that that has drawn record spending and will see either the first woman or the first Jew elected as the city’s mayor.

Despite those milestones, both candidates have tried to turn around what could be record-low voter turnout with campaigning in the final days and hours.

PHOTOS: L.A. voters head to the polls

A recent USC Price/Los Angeles Times poll showed Eric Garcetti‘s lead in the race has narrowed to 7 percentage points, but his strength among conservatives has blocked rival Wendy Greuel from securing a San Fernando Valley base that is vital to her chances.

As the candidates and their partisans swarmed across the city in advance of Tuesday’s runoff election, Garcetti, a city councilman from Silver Lake, held a 48%-to-41% lead, the survey found. Voters in the Valley and every other key region of Los Angeles favored him over Greuel, the city controller.

The election will sweep in new leadership for Los Angeles’ 3.8 million residents, but the race is likely to be decided by an older, whiter and more educated fraction of the city’s population.

FULL COVERAGE: L.A.’s race for mayor

Latinos, the city’s dominant ethnic group and a key voting bloc, make up 44% of the city’s population, U.S. census figures show. But the USC Price/Times poll suggests that Latinos will make up 24% of those who cast ballots Tuesday, in part because many are immigrants who are ineligible to vote.

Non-Latino whites, by contrast, at 32% of the city’s population, are likely to total 51% of the vote, giving them an outsized role in choosing the next mayor, according to the poll.

Apathy among young people could diminish their clout too. Of the city’s voting-age population, 65% are under 50. But only 37% of those likely to vote are under 50.

Because of the city’s voting-by-mail procedures, there’s a chance Angelenos may not know who will be the next mayor for days or weeks.

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