Examiner.com articles on last night's primaries and millage votes

Eaton upsets Higgins, Kunselman holds off Grand in city council primaries

In tonight's Democratic primaries for Ann Arbor City Council, challenger Jack Eaton upset incumbent Marcia Higgins in Ward 4, while incumbent Stephen Kunselman held on against challenger Julie Grand in Ward 3.

Eaton won handily, 1233 votes (64.52%) to Higgins' 674 (35.27%) in a contest that he led throughout the evening.  Higgins' campaign conceded within a half hour after the polls had closed, according to the time stamp of an AnnArbor.com article.

In contrast, Kunselman eked out a narrow victory, earning 927 votes (51.76%) to Grand's 862 (48.13%).  The two candidates swapped leads, with Kunselman in first early but then Grand ahead as late as 9:10 P.M.  Only when all the precincts had been counted at 10:06 P.M. did Kunselman get ahead and stay there.

More at the link, including a mention of the Ann Arbor Mixed Use Party, which is running three candidates in the November elections.  I'll have to chase that story down.  An environmental party other than the Greens operating in my beat is exactly the kind of angle I'd love to pursue.

Next, Ypsilanti Township approves millages, Whitmore Lake turns down bond proposal.

Voters in Ypsilanti Township approved four millages last night, most by wide margins.  Three of the votes were to increase millage rates, while a fourth merely renewed an existing millage.

The three measures to increase rates passed by the largest margins, while the simple renewal was the least popular of the set.  All of the higher millages were designed to offset the loss of property values in the township.

On the other side of Washtenaw County, voters in the Whitmore Lake School District turned down a bond proposal in a landslide of no votes.

I was surprised that the voters in Ypsilanti Township approved these measures overwhelmingly.  On the other hand, I lived in Whitmore Lake for four years and wasn't surprised in the least that the voters there turned down the school bond proposal by such a large margin.