Voter turnout in Harvard area precincts was moderate to heavy yesterday, with about 55 per cent turnout reported by 7:30 p.m., a significant increase over the turnout in the last gubernatorial election four years ago, Edward J. Samp, one of Cambridge's four election commissioners, said yesterday.

Voter lists posted outside the Cambridge fire station showed that Harvard students make up more than half of Ward Six. Precinct Three, the third largest precinct in the city. Quad residents vote in Ward Seven, Precinct Five.

Most of the students questioned at the fire station yesterday afternoon said they voted for Hatch for governor but thought King would win.

Tsongas was favored over Brooke by the students polled yesterday afternoon, but most said the senatorial race was difficult to predict.

The only student who said he had voted for King was a senior from Alabama, who voted in Massachusetts "because I'm a conservative voter, and I think Massachusetts needs more conservative voters than Alabama does."

Holding a sign for the Hatch-Cowin ticket by the firehouse was Gordon Marsden, a Kennedy School Fellow from England and a former Labor Party election agent.

"I never thought that when I came to America I'd be working for a Republican--the Democrats are the ones you would expect Labor to be allied with," Marsden said.