On Tuesday March 5, the mayoral primary race for the L.A. area came to a slowing halt as a low number of voters hit the polls for this election day.

The outcome of this election would determine which mayoral candidate will replace the current mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa. Voters decided between the candidates of Eric Garcetti, Wendy Greuel , Kevin James, Jan Perry, and Emanuel Pleitez.

Voter turnout for any election is an ever growing issue for potential elected officials and with this years Los Angeles mayoral race, it was very present.

According to an article on the huffingtonpost.com, the voter turnout rate was only 16 percent for this primary election.

“I didn’t vote because I’m not into politics, nobody ever does what they say they will,” Eric Stewart, 21, philosophy major said.

Compared to other big cities such as Chicago and San Francisco, L.A. tends to have significant lower voter-turnout in local election, according to an article featured on latimesblogs.latimes.com.

A study conducted in 2007 showed that while voter turnout in Chicago was 48 percent, 44 percent in Philadelphia, 41 percent in San Francisco, it was only 26 percent in L.A., according to the same article.

“Honestly I don’t think people in L.A. really care too much about politics or elections,” Ryan Williams, 20, computer science major, said. “Sure, people say they care about voting but that feeling never lasts long.”

Seemingly the L.A. voting population doesn’t have to best track record according to students.

“No, compared to other cities, L.A. doesnt seem super political to me, people always go on about their rights but they dont vote,” Angela Lee, 18, undecided major, said. “I recently moved from Northern California and they are way more involved in politics then out here.”

Though a few people might believe that the geographical location automatically has a low-voter turnout stigma, other factors plays a key role as well. Whether it be candidates not addressing concerning issues, voters not being inspired to vote for or against a candidate or simply voters not seeing the importance of voting.

“People need to be rallied up for the important things, like voting for president,” Kevin Hall, 23, business administration major, said. “With Barack Obama there was a lot of people fired up to vote and with the mayor election I didnt hear too much about it.”

Voter turnout increases when voters have a common goal as seen with the mayoral election of 2005 when then mayor James Hahn lost against incumbent Antonio Villaraigosa.

According to an article on latimes.com the firing of then L.A. chief Bernard Parks by Hahn caused particular voting blocks to stray their support for the mayor. With a goal, certain voter blocks rallied against Hahn and at the same time increasing voter turnout.

In 2001, Hahn with 53.5 percent of the vote won against Villaraigosa who had 46.5 percent in the mayor election. However, in the 2005 mayor election Villaraigosa with 58.6 percent of the vote defeated Hahn who managed 41.4 percent.

“Yes, I voted in the presidential election but not for mayor,” Renee Littman, 25, art major, said. “I don’t like any of the candidates enough to fully support them.”

Students seem to feel discouraged by the choices in candidates and politicians in general.

“The issue is there are too many and nobody trust politicians no matter how many promises are made,” Oscar Flores, 22, communications major, said. “I voted in both elections but voting is choosing the least harmful candidate.”

For students, voting seems to be hanging by a thread when it comes to certain elections.

“When you vote for the president it just feels so important but other elections don’t give that same feeling,” Ashley Pierce, 19, art major said.