NEW ORLEANS - Mayor Ray Nagin and Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu appeared headed toward a runoff Saturday following the first mayoral election since Hurricane Katrina, a tricky experiment of modern-day democracy that gave scattered evacuees a say in this battered city's future.

With 49 percent of precincts reporting, Nagin led with 36 percent, or 14,753 votes, to Landrieu's 29 percent, or 11,983 votes as of 11 p.m. Nonprofit executive Ron Forman followed with 19 percent, 7,831 votes, and 19 other candidates trailed far behind.

Since neither top candidate was likely to get more than 50 percent of the vote, Nagin and Landrieu appeared headed toward a runoff May 20.

Elections officials say the voting was steady and unusually problem-free, and while they didn't immediately have complete numbers, the early returns suggested the turnout could be low.

Of the city's 297,000 registered voters, tens of thousands are spread out across the United States. More than 20,000 cast ballots early by mail, fax or at satellite voting stations around the state, and thousands more made their way to 76 improvised polling stations. Some traveled by bus or in car caravans from such evacuee havens as Houston, Dallas and Atlanta.

“Let me tell you something. This is an important election,” said 61-year-old Gerald Miller.

Around the city, a mixture of black and white voters moved steadily in and out of the “super polling places” that stood for the dozens of wrecked schools and churches ordinarily used for voting.