Senators Barack Obama and John McCain may be locked in a close race in the national polls in their battle for the presidency, but at Tower Inn, the race is anything but close.

Most students returning to Ypsilanti know Tower Inn for its happy hour and pizza buffet. But this year, Tower Inn is encouraging its patrons to take part in the democratic process by conducting their own presidential election—with beans.

Since Sept. 3, customers at Tower Inn have been given beans with their bill, and are asked to drop one in either an Obama bucket or McCain bucket. As of Saturday evening, Senator Obama had nearly twice as many beans in his bucket as Senator McCain at Tower Inn.

There is also an “other” bucket meant for third parties, which has significantly fewer beans than the Obama and McCain buckets.

Tower Inn owner Rois Savvides, a native of Greece, said he was disturbed by how few people vote in the United States.

"I was always bothered by the fact that only 45 percent of the eligible voters vote in the United States,” Savvides said. “During these times where we are trying to spread democracy in other countries, we should be teaching our people to exercise the foundation of our democracy, our right to vote."

Customers are also encouraged to register to vote when they drop their bean in the bucket. Tower Inn has voter registration forms available to anyone who would like to register.

“We urge people to register to vote,” Savvides said. “Hopefully this election year a lot of people watch the debates, and make an educated decision that will help our country.”

According to Tower Inn manager Dan Carney, the bean poll was intended to get people excited about voting.

“We wanted to get kids interested in voting,” Carney said. “We wanted to get people interested in the voting process.”

Carney added that children are especially excited about voting in Tower Inn’s poll.

“The kids love it,” he said.

The buckets will be left out until the end of the election, according to Carney. After the election, the beans will be poured out and counted.

In addition to providing voter registration forms in the restaurant, Tower Inn has also included links on their Web site, www.towerinncafe.com, that can help individuals find out if they are already registered and can help voters find their polling place.