Few students vote in AS elections

Third in our series about Fresno State's student government

By JOSHUA BACON

In the 2000 Associated Students election, 258 students voted. One of the candidates, Brett Hooyerink, a candidate for senator of arts and humanities, was elected with three votes, while his competitors Todd Stermer and Rosalinda Taylor received two votes apiece.

Student voter turnout has increased dramatically in the past four years. For example, in the AS election last year, voter turnout climbed to 1,828 students. But still, some candidates can become elected officials without much voter support. For example, Sean Smith, the senator from the College of Engineering was elected by a margin of 17 votes and received a total of 115 votes.

Smith said that it would be ideal to have more students actively voting for their representatives but that if the candidate is dedicated to serving students, the number of votes really doesn’t matter.

“I do not believe the voter turnout was representative of our entire population, but realistically, what election is an actual representation of the whole,” Smith said. “I don’t mean to belittle the issue, but simply stated, it’s politics.”

Although voter turnout on campus is less than 10 percent of the student population and could use a boost, it has been on the rise since 2000.

In 2001, the race for senator for the College of Health and Human Services, came down to a tie among six candidates, who each received one vote. In the same election, there was an at-large senator race involving 13 candidates, and all 13 were divided by no more than 105 votes.

In the 2002 election, the presidential race was decided by only four votes, and the arts and humanities senator was elected by two votes.

In 2003, the number of students who voted increased to 1,170 and the number of votes that divided winning and losing candidates also increased, as the vice presidential race was decided by more than 300 votes.

Even at its current level of 1,828 students, voter turnout is nowhere near the national turnout for presidential elections, which is about 50 percent, said Russell Mardon, a Fresno State political science professor.

When compared with a city council election, though, where voter turnout is between 15 and 18 percent, there isn’t a big difference.

Mardon said that such a low percentage of voters on campus is extremely poor.

The most recent example of low voter turnout on campus was the health center referendum, which will increase student fees by $20 for fall 2005 and will continue to increase by $2 each semester through fall 2009.

About 490 students took part in the referendum vote, and about 390, or about 2 percent of the student body, voted to approve the fee increase.

Mardon said low voter turnout on campus means those elected don’t have the consent of the voters and the student population doesn’t think the election directly affects their way of life.

The election does affect students, Mardon said, because AS officers make a difference when decisions are made about where student money goes.

For example, he said, if the entire board consists of fraternity members, then the money will start flowing toward fraternities.

“When you think how much money [AS] controls and allocates, they have tremendous power,” Mardon said.

The initial budget this year for AS is more than $550,000, and the officers will decide how much of that money the dozens of clubs and organizations on campus will receive.

An election commission has been formed by AS to help improve student interest in voting.

Election commissioner Deborah Napoleon said the five-member commission and AS have found that students don’t understand what AS is about.

To fix this, the commission is working on telling students how much power they have through AS.

Some ideas include putting an information table in the free speech area and distributing free bracelets to help remind students to vote.

Vianey Nunez, the senator for the College of Social Science, said that during last year’s election, some students were not allowed to vote because their ID cards were either demagnetized or could not be recognized by the card reader.

Nunez said that before informing students, AS needs to improve the voting system so every student’s vote can be received and counted.

When it comes to informing students, Nunez thinks it’s important for AS to be more involved on campus, and even the surrounding community, and to be more visible.

“I don’t think all students are apathetic but lack the encouragement to get involved,” Nunez said.