This semester’s ASUI elections marked the lowest voter turnout since 2007, with less than a thousand people — which is about 10 percent of the student body, said Hayley Lydig, ASUI Communications Board Chair.
“I think with any election, voter turnout is always a problem,” ASUI Elections Coordinator Lobna Abdel-Rahim said. “We did everything we could, we advertised, we got the word out, we had voting booths downstairs in the Commons. We did a lot of stuff to get people to vote, so I think it is the voters who just need to get out there and vote.”
Abdel-Rahim said those who didn’t vote should not complain later about what ASUI is doing because they didn’t vote or voice their opinion.
“Honestly, our biggest way for campaigning is through Facebook. ASUI has a Facebook — we posted to there, I posted it to mine, all of my staff posted it to their walls and then we kind of just build on it,” Lydig said. “We also send it out through the all-campus email that Hannah sends out every Monday.”
The ASUI staff wore voting T-shirts with the voting website on the back, went to Bob’s Place and set up a table to spread the word about voting in the residence halls. There were also several open forums.
“A lot of people don’t want to vote if they don’t know the candidates running,” Lydig said. “I personally didn’t vote for anyone who I didn’t hear speak at an open forum or they hadn’t come to my chapter facility to come talk to us. That is the only reason I can come up with for the reason people wouldn’t vote.”
Max Cowan, who was reelected for senate, said this is an interesting year because students are less involved than usual. He said there are less applications for alternative service break trips, as well as the legislative breakfast and ASUI positions. He said students’ main concern is their educations.
Lydig said voting is crucial.
“The senators are the voice of their constituents, so once a senator gets elected they get assigned to a constituency, whether it is a residence hall, or a Greek house, or a club or something like that,” she said. “Then the senator’s job is to bring that constituency’s views on topics back to the senate. Our president Hannah Davis and vice president Nick Tunison sit in on every meeting and so (students) have direct connections with the president and other important faculty at the university.”
Lydig said ASUI did everything it could to make voting accessible and to advertise the campaign.
“I think that the most important part about campaigning is meeting with as many people as you can. I went around to as many Greek houses that I could get to. I managed to make it to all the residence halls,” Cowan said. “I also went to club meetings because just going to the living groups, I felt I was leaving out over 50 percent of the students who live off campus.”
Cowan said he also used the Internet to its full potential by having a Facebook page, Facebook event and putting together his own website to dive deeper into specific topics that students are concerned about. He said being involved on the Internet gives him a chance to get in touch with people he wouldn’t be able to in the first place.
Cowan also hung up flyers and a banner in the Idaho Commons that he said helped his campaign efforts.
“Most students don’t realize what ASUI is involved in,” Cowan said.
He said ASUI sets the activity fee — $530 per semester — and then allocates it to all the departments across campus.
“So (voting) really does affect students in that tangible way,” Cowan said.
Abdel-Rahim said ASUI learned a lot this semester about elections and hopes it continues to grow student participation in future elections.
Erin Roetker can be reached at [email protected]