DETROIT — Voters in financially strapped Detroit were deciding Tuesday which two of 15 candidates would advance to a May 5 runoff to replace the disgraced former mayor sent to jail last year.
Low turnout was expected in the nonpartisan special election.
Retiree Charles Dunn said that as of 4 p.m., four hours before polls closed, he was only the 108th person to vote at Henry Ford High School.
“It’s lousy,” said Dunn, 57. “It’s as if they don’t care.”
The winner of the May runoff will serve the remaining months of ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s second term. Kilpatrick resigned in September as he pleaded guilty to criminal charges in the scandal, which involved his affair with a top aide.
The regularly scheduled primary is in August, with the runoff in November. The winner in that campaign will serve a regular four-year term starting in January. The four elections will cost about $6 million for the city, reeling under the auto industry’s difficulties and other problems.
The major candidates in the nonpartisan primary Tuesday were all Democrats. They included the incumbent, Mayor Ken Cockrel Jr., who moved up from City Council president when Kilpatrick stepped aside.
If he is one of the two top vote-getters and goes on to win in May, Cockrel remains mayor through the end of the year. If he loses Tuesday, Cockrel will return to the City Council and Detroit will get its third mayor in less than 10 months after the May runoff.
Other candidates include Dave Bing, a former Detroit Pistons star and former Deputy Mayor Freman Hendrix.
