Turnout For Ann Arbor Election Moderate

Voters in Ann Arbor were turning out in moderate numbers for today's City Council election, with some 5,200 having cast ballots by 11 a.m. This is the largest 11 a.m. turnout for a non-mayoral election but the city has 57,942 persons eligible to vote this year, more than 15,000 above previous years. The 11 a.m. turnout would indicate about 45 per cent of the city's registered voters will cast ballots by the 8 p.m. closing time. Those in line at 8 p.m. will be permitted to cast ballots. In addition to the five council ward races, voters are also deciding whether the city will proceed with completion of the Packard-Beakes (Ashley-First) bypass route. They are being asked to approve a $935,000 bond issue for this purpose. Seeking City Council seats are Republicans Robert Foster, First Ward, Thomas Burnham, Second Ward, C. William Colburn, Third Ward, Bruce Benner Jr., Fourth Ward, and incumbent Lloyd Fairbanks Fifth Ward; Democrats John Kirscht, incumbent First Ward Michael Morris, Second Ward, Ulrich Stoll, Third Ward, Mona Walz, Fourth Ward and Franz Mogdis, Fifth Ward; and Human Rights Party candidates Jerry De Grieck First Ward, Nancy Wechsler, Second Ward, Genie Plamondon, Third Ward David Black, Fourth Ward, and Nancy Romer Burghadrt, Fifth Ward. Republicans now hold a 6-to-5 majority on council but to maintain that margin must win four of the five seats today The GOP did just that in the last nonmayoral council race, winning four of five seats in 1970. Democrats rebounded to win four of the six seats in last year's council election, but this was not enough to give them a majority on council. The Human Rights Party is given little il any chance of winning a seat today but ïts presence on the ballot could bè damaging to Democrats in any close I ward races. The HRP is expected to have lts largest vote in the Second Ward where Morris and Burnham are conductïng what is termed a nip-and-tuck battle I Student precincts in the Second Ward I had a relatively high turnout of voters in I the 11 a.m. count, with that ward's second precinct having the highest total at 380. However, that precinct has some 4,445 registered voters. The ward's firs't precinct, with less than half the total of registered voters, had an 11 a.m turnout of 200. Another large student precinct - the First Ward's third - had a turnout of 205 at 11 a.m., with 2,818 registered in that precinct. Non-student precincts, although having lower numerical turnouts, tended to have higher percentages of voters at 11 a.m. Close races are also expected in the Third and Fifth Wards. The student vote will have little impact in the Third and practically none in the Fifth. ' J S National attention has been drawn to today's Ann Arbor election, primarily in the student precincts. The national GOP is keeping a close eye on Burnham in the Second Ward to determine how a student running on the Republican ticket will fare among the student voters. Politicians in general are anxious to I see how the student voters will break I down in their party preferences. I dates for council have stuck to local I sues basically, not attempting to draw I on national affairs to buoy their I paigns. I It has been the belief - or perhaps the I hope - nationally that student voting I patterns will follow the trend of the I der voters. Today's election could shed I some light on the validity of that theory.