Fewer than 3 percent of students vote in SGA elections

Cyrus Nuval
Staff Writer

Low voter turnout continues to plague student government elections at VCU. Fewer than 3 percent of VCU’s roughly 32,000 students voted in the Monroe Park Student Government Association elections.

938 ballots were cast between Oct. 23 and Oct. 25 to elect a new group of senators to fill half of the 60-seat Senate. In the spring election for the SGA president, vice president and the other half of the SGA senate seats, 956 students voted. In the fall of 2011, fewer than 700 students voted.

“I would have hoped for a higher number than what we received, but we are proud to say that this was a clean election with no problems so we commend ourselves on that,” said Amani Walker, chairperson of the SGA Senate Elections Committee.

Many students who didn’t vote pointed to a lack of awareness — some said they had no idea who the candidates were or what the candidates stood for. Others said they didn’t even know an election was taking place on campus.

“The candidates stances and information need to be better presented. People can get lazy or may not take the time to search for information about this sort of thing,” said junior Chris Hackworth, a political science major.

Kathryn Witt, the chairwoman of the SGA’s legislative branch, said that the SGA is constantly working to inform students about the elections.

“One of the biggest challenges is disseminating information to such a large student body,” she said.

Witt said the election dates, the candidates and their stances were all publicized in a number of ways: through the SGA website, fliers around campus, the SGA Facebook and Twitter accounts and in VCU’s daily email newsletter, the  TelegRAM.

“Despite all these efforts, it seems as though we are still missing many students,” she said. Witt hopes that next semester, they will be allowed to advertise the elections in one of the rotating headline slots on the VCU homepage to reach a broader audience.

However, publicizing the elections isn’t enough for some students, who said they didn’t vote because it doesn’t seem important.

“I do not see, in a clear way, how the SGA affects students. I understand that they probably do affect us, but it is not obvious,” said junior Ebony Jones, an accounting major.

The SGA is made up of student representatives who work to influence policy at the university, coordinate events on campus and disburse funds to student organizations for community events. The SGA receives approximately 34 percent of student activity fees, a $45 fee that all students pay each semester. Last year, the SGA received over $480,000 from activity fees.

Alexander Wong, a senior biology and chemistry major, said it was the responsibility of the elected officials to give a clearer explanation of the SGA’s relevance to students.

“The candidates and the SGA in general should show the student body why we should care about voting or pay attention to the SGA’s activities,” he said.