Yesterday's Ann Arbor City Council elections ended in a sweep for the Democratic Party and a disappointing voter turnout.

Democrat Stephen Rapundalo beat Republican Thomas Bourque by a count of 1574 to 1436, claiming the seat in Ward 2 for the Democratic Party for the first time in an off-year in more than 18 years. Incumbents Leigh Greden (D-Ward 3) and Marcia Higgins (D-Ward 4) reclaimed their seats, making the City Council composed entirely of Democrats.

Greden won in a decisive victory, but Higgins only managed to beat Republican challenger Jim Hood by 51 votes in what proved to be the closest race for any seat. While Higgins has already served as a Council member for the past six years, this will be the first term she serves as a Democrat.

"We have 11 Democrats with 11 different opinions. I'm here to represent the opinions of the people of the second ward," Rapundalo said.

Greden echoed Rapundalo's sentiments and said the results were telling of the political atmosphere in Ann Arbor.

"I think this election is a show of support for the direction this city is moving," Greden said.

Voter turnout was down from 21,000 in November 2003 to 12,000, with several student precincts showing disappointing numbers. Voter turnout at Mary Markley Residence Hall, one of the most concentrated student polling locations, fell from 25 in 2003 to 15.

Markley falls in the second ward, where Rapundalo canvassed heavily to reach out to students.

"Of the 200 students I met in Markley, only about a dozen or so were even registered to vote," Rapundalo said.

The Michigan Union, which counted votes for precincts one and two of the first ward, counted 49 ballots, up from 26 in 2003. Sarah Packard and Steve Lyons, co-chairs of precincts one and two for the first ward, said they were impressed by the turnout. They estimated that students cast about 60 percent of the ballots at their polling station. Voter turnout in East Quadrangle Residence Hall jumped from 52 to 125.

South Quadrangle Residence Hall and Bursley Residence Hall remained close to their numbers from 2003, the former jumping from 20 to 22, the latter falling from 32 to 26.

The College Democrats were out in much greater force than the Michigan Student Assembly's Voice Your Vote Commission, registering 210 students to vote.

"We set up tables in the Diag and did informal voter registration in Markley. We tried to encourage residents in Markley to get registered and to encourage others to get registered," Libby Benton, president of College Democrats said.

The Emerald Ash Borer Millage failed by a vote of 6,748 to 5,173. The emerald ash borer is a wood-boring beetle that destroys ash trees. The millage would have amended the city charter to authorize a 0.5 mil tax to fund the removal of dead and dying ash trees lost to the beetle.