Tuesday, April 19, 2011
A little more than 20 percent of the student body participated in the Student Senate elections last week. This is an increase of 8.9 percentage points from the previous year, with some professional schools recording their highest number of voters. A few procedural changes may have contributed to the turnout.
Polling Stations
Multiple polling stations on campus provided easier access and more options for student voters where, historically, only one polling station was available at the Kansas Union.
This year, stations were available at Mrs. E’s dining hall and on Wescoe Beach.
Michael Fee, the elections commission chairman, said at one point last Thursday at the Wescoe Beach polling station, students were “cramming in line” to cast their votes before the deadline.
Percentage of Student Body Voters
2008: 16.5 percent at 4,207 votes
2009: 23.4 percent at 5,921 votes
2010: 12.1 percent at 3,063 votes
2011: 21.0 percent at 5,192 votes
Social Media and the Internet
The application of networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter also increased with this election season.
Justin Hitt, Renew KU’s campaign manager, said he found that social media was the most efficient way to reach out to student voters.
The elections commission also utilized those networks to tweet about the multiple polling locations and to create a Facebook event urging students to vote.
Another first for the Senate elections was the reminder to vote that appeared anytime someone logged onto a campus computer.
A link on the University’s homepage allowed students to directly access the online voting site.
Campaigning efforts
But while Fee said the commission “did a little bit” by tweeting and with the link, he said most of the credit goes to the coalitions and their campaigning efforts.
“I think this year they stepped it up and it was really competitive,” Fee said.
Hitt, a junior from Shawnee, said Renew KU’s campaigning efforts included tabling, chalking, and engaging students in dialogue.
He said it was a really good competition and when one coalition felt the other was more engaging, they would step it up a notch.
Senate has a long way to go to reach Hitt’s goal for voter turnout, which at a minimum would be 25 percent, but he said this is a great start.
Alex Rippberger, a junior from Olathe and KUnited coalition member, said one thing KUnited really made an effort to do was to talk with every single student who passed by.
He said it was about a desire to hear from the students and what they would like to see at the University rather than pushing information about KUnited on them.
Libby Johnson, a senior from Lawrence and the student body president elect, described KUntied's methods as “word-of-mouth campaigning."
“Everyone knew a unique group of students to appeal to,” Johnson said.
She said she views the turnout as a huge success as long as the numbers continue to go up.
“But the important thing is to continue to make sure students know how relevant it is to their lives,” Johnson said.
The only foreseeable changes to the election process next year will be the addition of a new online voting system that will function and look exactly the same from a voter perspective. The system will makes its debut in the fall.
— Edited by Sarah Gregory
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