By Emily Wunderlich
In another election marked by poor voter turnout, three incumbents and seven other students were elected on Tuesday to the Student Government senate.
Only 256 students voted in the midterm election on Monday and Tuesday –– far less than the 600 students who voted for homecoming king and queen last week.
“If you don’t vote, you don’t really have the same weight or right when it comes to complaining,” wrote senator Mikey Sherrill, a sophomore psychology major, in the Facebook group “USFSP The Know It All’s Guide To Knowing It All!”
“You had the chance to change something about your situation, but didn’t use that opportunity,” he said.
Eleven candidates were on the ballot, and students could vote for up to five candidates to fill 10 seats in the senate.
Leading the polls was Zoe Dukas, a junior political science major, who got 50 percent of the votes. Close behind was Hannah Rose Wanless, an incumbent senator and sophomore history major.
In order of popularity, the other elected senators were:
- Naya Payne, freshman political science major
- Veronica Jimenez, freshman political science major
- Katherine Fishman, incumbent senator and junior political science major
- Gregory Cote, incumbent senator and sophomore biology major
- Joe Morales, senior biology major
- Chase Cooley, freshman history major
- Trevor Martindale, freshman political science major
- Alexandria Bishop, freshman political science major
Nicholas Cropper, senior biology major, was the only candidate who fell short.
SG elections have routinely been marked by apathy and poor voter turnout. In spring 2018, 359 students took to the polls; in fall 2017, 250; in fall 2016, 340; and fall 2015, 394.
“I will answer on behalf of the 95 percent (of students) who didn’t vote … who cares?” wrote Kevin Diebold, senior English major, in the Facebook group.
SG leaders stressed that increasing voter turnout would be a priority this year. In an Aug. 20 article in The Crow’s Nest, Student Body Vice President Ysatis Jordan promised SG would “revamp” both the election process and voting opportunities, specifically for the commuter population.
“For people who only come once a week or only come at nights, the voter station might not be tabling,” Jordan said in the article. “It’s not necessarily fair, we are missing a large demographic.”
But the SG voting table in The Reef was only open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. Students could vote on one of two laptops provided, or scan the QR code on the flyers to access the poll. They could also vote on PeteSync on their own time.
“On the table, each candidate had a bio of about 250 words that they wrote themselves,” supervisor of elections Alexandria Domingo said in an email to The Crow’s Nest. “Each candidate also had a colored printed PowerPoint they designed with their qualifications, slogan, and fun fact.”
Resa A. Bell, a junior double-majoring in anthropology and criminology, suggested using email or The Know It All’s Guide to better promote elections. Domingo said she is already working on ideas to improve turnout for spring elections.
“I know in the past, SG had made shirts for students who voted at the table during the general election, which we plan to do in spring 2019,” she said. “We also have plans to set up a table in the library for people to vote there as well.”
Still, she is pleased with the increase in voters, however minimal.
“Compared to past midterm elections, we did have a very small increase,” Domingo said. “I personally felt as long as we didn’t go down in numbers, we had met our minimum goal. I know as the chair of the ERC, we still have major improvement(s) we can do to obviously increase those numbers.”
The Elections Rules Commission meets every Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. in SLC 1800 or 1504. Students can access the agendas 24 hours before each meeting on the Student Government drive.
Header photo: Jonah Hinebaugh | The Crow’s Nest
