DETROIT — In partnership with the University of Michigan’s Dearborn campus, Detroit Public Television has launched a project to inform voters about the hundreds of candidates seeking public office in the city. Between the candidates for the Charter Revision Commission, Detroit City Council and mayor, 220 people are looking to stand out from the crowd in the city’s crowded Aug. 4 primary. But in what one Detroit TV representative called a “frustrating” effort to include as many council and charter revision candidates as possible, all six mayoral hopefuls were left out of the project.

Dave Manney, a spokesman for WTVS (Channel 56), told Michigan Messenger that the mayoral candidates were excluded because there are less of them. “We started to do this for council and charter commission because there were so many candidates,” he told Michigan Messenger. “From a public service standpoint, it helps voters sort through all these candidates.”

The Detroit Public TV voter guide project, called MiVote, was launched in 2008 to engage young voters in the presidential election.

On Friday, MiVote is narrowing its focus on Michigan’s largest city that is about one month away from the August primary elections.

With help from the community coalition Arise Detroit, the UM-Dearborn Institute for Local Government, WWJ Newsradio 950, Publius.org and the League of Women Voters, MiVote attracted 212 candidates for Detroit City Council and City Charter Revision Commission to participate in five-minute video interviews that are available on Detroit Public TV and online at MiVote.org.

MiVote may not be finished with its Detroit voter project. If there’s enough public demand, the mayoral candidates may still get their MiVote interviews, Manney said, adding the six mayoral contenders are a “subject of conversation.”

For now, voters have plenty of information to access through MiVote candidate interviews.

The five-minute video interviews with 212 candidates can be viewed anytime at MiVote.org. Each candidate is asked about his or her qualifications and how they would work toward balancing the city’s $300-million budget deficit. The only two incumbents who participated in the free program were City Council President Kenneth Cockrel Jr. and councilwoman Alberta Tinsley Talabi.

For those who’d rather catch the candidate interviews on television, Detroit Public TV will air an hour-long series featuring the candidate interviews on weekdays at 8 p.m. on the DPTC Plus Channel (56.2/Comcast 287) through July 31.