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Dole wins Midwest, captures GOP bid

After weeks of anticipation, press coverage and campaign visits, the Michigan Republican presidential primary finally arrived yesterday -- and voters barely seemed to care.

GOP front-runner Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) captured the state, as many had expected him to, receiving 52 percent of the vote. Conservative commentator Pat Buchanan received 34 percent of the vote.

Other candidates who remained on the ballot despite leaving the race in previous weeks only collected a fraction of the vote. Alan Keyes, the only other candidate still running, garnered 3 percent of the vote, but no delegates.

Michigan's open primary system allots delegates proportionally, so Buchanan, with a vote total more than the 15-percent minimum, will still receive delegates.

Dole's Michigan victory, coupled with his other wins yesterday in Wisconsin, Illinois and Ohio, brought his total number of electoral college delegates up to 996, the exact number required for the presidential nomination.

With his presidential bid secure, Dole has said he is confident and ready for the upcoming election against President Clinton.

Katie Packer, executive director of Dole's Michigan campaign, said the campaign organizers are excited that Dole won the nomination and the state.

"Michigan is important -- he wouldn't have won without it," Packer said.

Low voter turnout in the Michigan victory made the win more subdued than experts had thought. Although 6.3 million voters are currently registered in the state, state Bureau of Elections Information Director Bradley Wittman said only 10 percent of those registered voted in the primary.

University political science and communication studies Prof. Michael Traugott said primary turnout has been low all through the season.

"People's interest to vote is related to their sense that their vote makes a difference," Traugott said, adding that Dole's imminent win probably kept some voters out of the polls.

Packer said the Dole camp would have liked to have seen more voters at the polls, but "when you win, there's not much to be disappointed about."

At polling sites around Ann Arbor and on campus, election officials reported very low turnout. As of 5 p.m. yesterday, only 12 voters had cast ballots at the site in Mary Markley Residence Hall. Only 21 ballots, including three absentee votes, were cast at the Michigan Union polling site as of 6 p.m.

"Voter registration in Michigan has always been high," Wittman said, guessing that the low number of Republicans in traditionally Democratic Ann Arbor contributed to the small turnout in the city.

Pauline Norton, an election official at the Markley site, said the lack of candidates on the ballot who were still in the race is another reason for the low voter interest.

"No one running in the Democratic party probably helps," she added.

The Democratic Party did not put Clinton on the primary ballot because of rules forbidding the party to participate in open primaries.

Christine Greer, an election official for more than 14 years, said she encountered several students who wanted to vote, but couldn't because they are not registered in the district.

Norton said she noticed this too. "There is a lack of interest or knowledge about the primary," she said.

LSA junior Sue Priver said she voted in the March 5 Massachusetts primary by absentee ballot. As she worked in the Union's Campus Information Center yesterday, Priver said she saw very little traffic towards the polls.

"It should be people's prerogative to vote, but I don't know how much people on campus know about it -- there's a lack of awareness," she added.

Although yesterday's turnout was low, Priver predicted a greater turnout in the November election between Dole and Clinton.

In addition to Dole's win, officials in City of Detroit also celebrated victory last night as voters approved the ballot proposal which permitted use of public funds for the building of a new Tiger Stadium downtown. Pending a state lawsuit, all other funding has been approved and the stadium is scheduled to be ready for the 1998 season.