The Michigan Daily-Tuesday, August 5, 1980-Page 5 Minimal voter turnout expected today in Mich. primary election STAGE MANAGER NANCY Kaplan directs independent presidential can- didate John Anderson's attention to various monitors on the set of ABC-TV's Good Morning America show in New York yesterday. Anderson was in the city to address the National Urban League. Kennedy: Democratic convention to be open DETROIT (UPI) - A light voter tur- nout was expected today in a primary which offered little real suspense beyond independent John Anderson's challenge to crack Michigan's notoriously tough ballot access barriers. State election officials were making no predictions on voter turnout, although they noted in 1968 - the last primary with no senatorial or guber- natorial contest - only about 23 per cent of those registered bothered to vote. MINOR PARTY candidates and sup- porters of Anderson's independent presidential bid hope to get enough signatures in today's state primary to advance to the November general elec- tion - despite a statute they say is designed to keep them off the ballot. Michigan, with 21 electoral votes and a large bloc of independents, is central to Anderson's campaign strategy. A four-year-old state law requires minor parties to collect nominating signatures and then to garner about 4,060 votes in the primary to win a spot on the November ballot. NO MINOR party ever has survived the rigorous qualifying requirements. "In my experience, this is the most severe restriction of any state in the union," said Barry Commoner, presidential candidate of the liberal Citizens Party. Commoner, in an impromptu news conference on a Detroit sidewalk yesterday, predicted many ballots will be thrown out because voters do not un- derstand the.mechanics of the third- party ballot access law. THAT LAW states that any voter wishing to give a minor party a spot on the November ballot may not vote for any other partisan candidate. In other words, a citizen voting for Commoner's party today could not vote in the primaries for state House, Congress, or partisan local races. Libertarian Party presidential can- didate Ed Clark called the ballot access statute "the most vicious law in the whole country: "It confuses voters," Clark said. "The idea that you can't vote for a county commissioner at the same time you vote for a political party is purely irrational." PAUL SIERACKI, Anderson's Mid- west political director, said the in- dependent candidate considers the statute an effort to "eliminate indepen- dent and third party candidates from successfully getting a place on the ballot." Anderson backers are "hopeful" the Republican dropout will survive today's primary but are not over- playing their chances - lest voters take the primary for granted and fail to show up at the polls. "It would be a travesty if in the state of Michigan John Anderson would not be able to be on this November ballot" said Jay Heck, a field organizer for the Anderson campaign. Heck conceded the statute makes it tough for independents and third party candidates to get on the November ballot, but said he does not believe the system is "unbeatable." From AP and UPI NEW YORK - Sen. Edward Ken- nedy said yesterday his forces have the votes to turn the Democratic National' Convention into a free-for-all contest, but President Carter's campaign chairman called the claim "baloney." "I believe that the Democratic con- vention will be open," Kennedy said, with delegates free to support him or any other presidential candidate, regardless of the commitments made when they were elected. THOSE COMMITMENTS would guarantee Carter a nominating majority, and the first test of strength at next week's convention will come on a proposed rule to enforce them. Kennedy said he is confident that in an open convention he can wrest the nomination from Carter. But Robert Strauss said Carter's majority is solid and won't be shaken by the open convention challenge, a rebellion that has gained headway amid the controversy over the Libyan ties of the president's brother, Billy. ONE WEEK from the opening gavel of the Democratic convention in New York, Kennedy and his spokespersons said they were gaining strength in the effort to block adoption of a party rule which would bind delegates to follow the commitments of the primary elec- tions and party caucuses which appor- tioned nominating votes. IN DENVER, Carter's political strategists decided to be "gracious" yesterday and came away from a hud- dle with Democratic governors without- a renewed endorsement for the president the week before tile party's national convention. The Democratic governors, meeting at the annual convention of the National Governors' Association, also chose to stay out of the fight between Carter and Kennedy over convention rules. AT THE same time, Republican governors unanimously adopted a resolution of support for GOP presiden- tial nominee Ronald Reagan and ac- cused Carter of "failure of leadership." Also yesterday, Kennedy and in- dependent presidential candidate John Anderson addressed the convention of the Urban League. Reagan paid a hospital visit to the League's executive director, Vernon Jordan, still recovering from gunshot wounds suf- fered during a sniper attack in Fort Wayne, Ind., last month. Reagan will address the league con- vention today and Carter is scheduled to speak to the group tomorrow mor- ning. Kennedy and Anderson got only lukewarm 'receptions as they courted black voters. KENNEDY GOT his best response when he attacked fellow members of Congress for accepting free medical care "for the slightest case of sniffles" but opposing national health insurance for the general public. Independent candidate Anderson got his warmest reception when he criticized Carter, saying the country needs a president who is "a vigorous problem solver, not a tinkerer.. . a real moralleader, not a moralizer."