The race for an Ames City Council seat by two students ended in defeat Tuesday, despite an ISU voter drive that registered more than 1,000 students.

However, in student-dominated precincts, one of those students actually won more votes than any other candidate, including the eventual winner.

Matt Denner, senior in political science, ran for the fourth ward seat and lost overall to fourth ward incumbent Riad Mahayni, but according to unofficial results from the city election, Denner received the most votes in the two precincts that contain student residence halls in the fourth ward.

Denner obtained 42.47 percent of the votes in Maple-Willow-Larch Halls and 50.82 percent of the votes in Friley Hall. Mahayni received 16.44 percent of the votes in Maple-Willow-Larch and 11.48 percent in Friley.

Moving on to a run-off election for the at-large seat on Dec. 2 are Matthew Goodman, 3303 West St., and Mary Ann Lundy, 4316 Phoenix St. Monte Parrish, 1511 Stone Brooke Rd., and Nathan Johnston, junior in finance, also ran for the seat.

Unlike Denner’s performance in the student precincts, Johnston did not receive a majority of students’ votes.

Goodman received almost 87 percent of the votes at Friley, compared to Johnston’s 6.56 percent.

In ward 2, precinct 2, which contains Frederiksen Court, Johnston won only 3.75 percent of the 158 votes in the precinct.

Johnston, the ex officio student member of the City Council, attributes the results to lack of money and time for campaigning.

“My biggest problem with campaigning was funding,” Johnston said. “Goodman has a lot more time to be out there campaigning.”

Denner said students who voted for him probably voted for Goodman because they agree on many issues. “Matthew Goodman holds a lot of the same ideals and shares some of the same ideas that I have,” Denner said. “So it makes sense that students would vote for Goodman if they were planning to vote for me.”

Mayor Ted Tedesco said Johnston did not fare well in the entire election.

“In a case where a candidate doesn’t do very well, they probably did not impress the voters,” Tedesco said.

Denner said he did better than Johnston in the elections because he introduced himself to students, passed out fliers and held a rally on campus.

“I was the only candidate that campaigned heavily on campus,” Denner said. “I campaigned and [Johnston] didn’t.”

Johnston said he didn’t focus his entire campaign on students because he was running for a position that represented the whole community.

Although voting results for Johnston were low, Denner said it appears students took a more active role in this year’s elections and wants to see that happen in future elections.

“I hope that this election will be the beginning of a greater involvement of students and the local policies that affect them,” Denner said.

Tedesco said students have the ability to voice their opinions and need to express them through elections. “The students have heightened the awareness of the community with their presence,” Tedesco said. “The opportunity is there — they’ve just got to grasp it.”