Letters: After the vote

Re “Garcetti, Greuel in tight race,” May 22

Suppose they had an election and no one voted.

The almost complete lack of interest in the Los Angeles mayor’s race (the final turnout will probably be around 25%) should be of far more concern to people than who won and who lost. I’ve heard all of the excuses for not voting before, such as “the candidates didn’t offer a clear choice,” “I don’t trust politicians” and “I was too busy doing other things.”

Remember this: If you don’t vote, you have no right to complain.

Ralph S. Brax

Lancaster

I did not vote Tuesday, my first time ever sitting out an election. The main reason is that there was little difference between Mayor-elect Eric Garcetti and Controller Wendy Greuel.

For two months they had organizations or volunteers call my house constantly. My message to them: Never call me again, and it would be appropriate if you sent me a letter of apology.

And if there are human beings out there who share my utter frustration, please stand up and holler.

Marie Matthews

San Pedro

No disrespect to basketball legend Magic Johnson, but the following Chick Hearn quote seems apropos as his candidate Wendy Greuel was easily defeated in the mayoral election: “This game’s in the refrigerator. The door’s closed, the lights are out, the butter’s getting hard, the eggs are cooling and the Jell-O is jiggling.”

It is now up to Garcetti to show voters they made the right decision despite the embarrassingly low turnout.

Richard Whorton

Valley Village

Re “Is L.A. too cool to vote?,” Column, and “Campaign spending sets record,” May 19

Bravo to Steve Lopez for his creative pre-election plea to get out the vote. It was too bad that the candidates lacked creativity or any inspired plan for Los Angeles. However, it was not their dullness or even their negative ads that stirred my blood. It was the grotesque amount spent: in excess of $33 million. Think how such funds could have actually served residents — how many homeless housed or fed or how many jobs created or saved.

Such vain excess translated to no excess of voters.

Jeanine D’Elia

Granada Hills

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