Jared Nisch is registered to vote in East Lansing but didn’t make it to the polls Tuesday for the city council primary.

Nisch, an environmental science junior, wasn’t even aware an election was taking place or that there were two students and a recent graduate vying for two open council seats.

“How many students do you see around campus?” Nisch questioned. “There are no students here to support them.”

Matt Mitroka, an MSU geography graduate student and a candidate for council, said he might have fared better in the primary if they were held in September instead of August. That way, more students would be in the area. As it turned out, Mitroka rallied only a very small number of votes.

The primary sent four of the eight candidates on to the November general election. And all four winners are city committee veterans.

Mitroka received 2 percent of the vote. Mark Van Remortel, a business senior, received 1 percent, and Shane Waller, a 2001 graduate, received 3 percent.

Alan Fox, a partner in Practical Political Consulting, 220 Albert Ave., said residents who take summer vacations would also be able to vote if the primary was pushed back.

And the number of students returning could make a significant increase in voter turnout, he said.

Fox, who served on the city council in 1977 and was an MSU junior when he was elected, said changing the primary date is something city council could easily do.

“It opens an opportunity, but it doesn’t solve everything,” he said. “You’ll have a situation where the candidate is still going to have to campaign in spring, get people registered and thinking about it.”

But Mitroka said he doesn’t see council taking any action to change the primary.

Of the four winners Tuesday, one is an incumbent, two serve on the planning commission and the other chairs the Downtown Development Authority.

Three of the losers were either current MSU students or recent graduates.

East Lansing Mayor Mark Meadows said he would support moving the primary to September - when a majority of 40,000-plus students would be on or near campus.

There would not necessarily be a change in who won, he said. But voter turnout would be higher.

Council voted down a proposal in 1994 that would change the primary to the second week of September, but would look at it again, Meadows said.

“If someone passed around a petition on it, we’d probably consider it,” he said.

Shannon Murphy can be reached at murphy78@msu.edu.