Tuesday’s L.A. voter turnout was likely the lowest ever, muddying Garcetti's historic reelection win

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti made history in his romp to reelection on Tuesday: His 81% share of the vote was higher than any of his predecessors had won in more than a century.

But Tuesday’s election — once the ballot count is complete — is likely to break another record for low voter turnout in an L.A. mayor’s race, according to Dean Logan, the Los Angeles County registrar of voters.

So despite his impressive vote share, it appears that Garcetti won with fewer votes – just over 202,000 in the initial tally – than at least a half dozen L.A. mayors: James K. Hahn, Richard Riordan, Tom Bradley, Sam Yorty, Norris Poulson and Fletcher Bowron.

Logan expects the final turnout will fall 1 or 2 percentage points below the record low of 17.9% of registered voters in 2009, when Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa won reelection.

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Chris Alexakis