Mayor Alice K. Wolf swept Tuesday's City Council elections with almost 2000 more number one votes than second-place incumbent Walter J. Sullivan, according to the preliminary totals released yesterday.

The unofficial tallies announced by the Election Commission at about 6:30 p.m. yesterday put Wolf first with 4133 votes, Sullivan second with 2478 and incumbent Timothy J. Toomey Jr. third with 2225.

The other top candidates in preliminary polling were: Councillor Francis H. Duehay '55 (1987 votes), Councillor Sheila T. Russell (1811), Councillor Jonathan S. Myers (1705), Vice Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves '72 (1702), Councillor William H. Walsh (1472), School Committee member Alfred E. Vellucci (1226) and Councillor Edward N. Cyr (1224).

Although the unofficial count puts School Committee member and well-known former mayor Alfred E. Vellucci in ninth place with 1226 votes, incumbent Edward N. Cyr is only two votes behind.

According to pundits checking out the action yesterday evening in the Longfellow School gym, where the ballots are being counted, Wolf's many transfers will probably boost Cyr past Vellucci.

A total of 23,363 people turned out to vote, an unusually low turnout in comparison with recent elections. That number will probably put the quota, or number of number one or transfer votes a candidate must have to be ensured a council seat, at somewhere around 2200.

The final totals with the transfer votes figured in will not be tallied until late tomorrow. However, the preliminary number one totals and conjectures of where the transfers, most importantly Wolf's, will go, indicate that the nine incumbent councillors will regain their seats.

Under Cambridge's system of proportional representation any votes a candidate earns above the quota are redistributed to the second choice on the ballot.

If the second candidate on the ballot has also reached the necessary quota the votes go to the number three ballot choice.

Similarly the votes that go to candidate who do not reach the quota are redistributed to the second choice.

The preliminary results contained some surprises for City Council regulars. Toomey, an Independent who often voted with the council's progressive Cambridge Civic Association (CCA), did better than had been widely predicted.

Some pundits had expected that Vellucci, another pro-rent control Independent, would take votes away from Toomey.

"Toomey exploded all over the map," one observer remarked.

Two CCA-endorsed incumbents also surprised pundits. Myers, who earned 1705 number one votes, made a very strong showing while North Cambridge's Cyr was fighting for the final council spot at the end of the preliminary vote count.

According to Vince L. Dixon '75, head of the city's Republican party, Myers owes his victory to being "a through and utterly dogged politician."