EDITORIAL YOUR VOTE COUNTS.

THE race for mayor looks very close indeed, which means that just a few votes could well determine who is the next mayor of Los Angeles.

So let's say it again: Every vote counts.

And with such a tight race developing among the six top candidates for mayor - City Attorney Jim Hahn, former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, City Councilman Joel Wachs, U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra and businessman Steve Soboroff and state Controller Kathleen Connell - there's a fair chance that the candidate who ekes out the No. 2 spot in the primary on Tuesday could go on to win the mayor's race in June.

Most polls have Hahn, Villaraigosa and Soboroff in the top-three spots and registering numbers that are within the polls' margins of error so that any combination could come in one-two.

The Daily News has endorsed businessman Soboroff for mayor, citing our belief that what Los Angeles needs most is to elect a noncareer politician or bureaucrat to the city's top job to shake things up.

On Sunday, our Viewpoint section will present a Voter's Guide with information about the major candidates for mayor, along with the races in the Valley for City Council, Los Angeles Unified School Board and the Los Angeles Community College District.

We urge readers to take a few minutes and look over the candidates and where they stand on vital issues such as police reform, transportation, schools and growth.

In the San Fernando Valley, voters have a chance to make a real impact on the election since voter turnout usually is higher than in other parts of Los Angeles.

Four years ago, more than half the votes cast in the municipal election came from the San Fernando Valley, a first in city history.

That explains why every major mayoral candidate has campaigned hard in the Valley and promised to pay attention to issues near and dear to our hearts, like closing the Sunshine Canyon Landfill, breaking up the dysfunctional LAUSD and providing more police and firefighters to serve the Valley so that it gets its fair share of services.

It's also important to note that in the 1997 city election, only 24 percent, or 317,595 people, bothered to cast ballots.

That means less than 10 percent of L.A.'s population could choose the next mayor, a decision that has important ramifications as the question of secession looms on the horizon.

If you haven't been following the races, now is the time to catch up. Find out where the candidates stand, who they are, and what they say they will do.

In addition to Sunday's Voter's Guide, other background stories on the candidates are available on the newspaper's Web site, dailynews.com.

It appears Tuesday's election will be very close. If you don't vote - and then don't like what those who are elected do for or to you - you'll have nobody to blame but yourself.

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