The SGA reached its voter turnout goal this year when 2,000 students voted.
Each year, the SGA strives to have at least 10 percent of the student body vote each election.
“We were very happy with the turnout this year,” said Casey Whitehead, the SGA’s chief justice. “We obviously would prefer more, but in the past 10 years, we have gotten about 10 percent.”
This year, there was no opposition in the executive elections. Voters always have the ability for a write-in vote, so technically anyone could be voted for.
“Anyone can campaign as long as they follow the campaign election guidelines,” Whitehead said.
In executive elections, no one on the ticket has ever lost to a write-in vote. In a past election in the Senate, 30 seats were filled, and there were not that many people listed on the ballot. The additional seats were filled with write-in
votes.
For future elections, the SGA is in the process of amending the constitution to change the voting requirements. As of right now, four candidates must run together on one ticket for the offices of president, vice president, treasurer and
secretary.
If the changes in requirements are approved, the president and vice president will run together on a ticket, and the president will appoint the treasurer and secretary.
The student body may be to blame for the absence of opposition in elections.
“There is a lot of apathy within the student body, and people are not aware of opportunities in the SGA,” Whitehead said. “We held several info sessions and had a good turnout. When it comes down to putting your name on the ballot, people don’t understand how it works. By the time they realize, it is too late.”
Running in an election where candidates are unopposed may prove to have an affect on campaigning strategies.
“Money for campaigning should still remain the same,” said Ana Barrenechea, the assistant director of leadership development programs in the department of student activities and SGA adviser. “We encourage all runners to
campaign.”
A great deal of the campaigning has happened electronically through Facebook groups and Twitter feeds, decreasing the cost of campaigns.
“We tried to campaign as much as possible,” said Corbin DiMeglio, the newly elected SGA president. “It might have affected us, but we didn’t not do something just because there was no opposition. That would be a disservice to the SGA. The student body got the campaign that it deserved. It would have affected the SGA as a whole if someone took that mentality.”
“I think it does change campaigning,” Whitehead said. “It is not as competitive. That affects campaigning, and that affects voter turnout. It would help if the ticket campaigned more.”
A version of this article appeared in the Apr 12 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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You stole votes from the students to rig an election and then you wonder why we don't bother voting. I've seen military juntas with more honest elections than the SGA.
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Curious here - how did they steal votes and rig an election?
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And, what was there to rig when there was no opposing slate of candidates?
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And, what was there to rig when there was no opposing slate of candidates?
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And, what was there to rig when there was no opposing slate of candidates?
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You must have a short memory if you don't remember that SGA race. I'm not referring to this years election it was a couple years ago but one party didn't get their entire slate in office so they removed votes.
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I voted "no" to the constitutional amendment, and wrote in "Ron Paul" for every office.
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I guess the minority 10% will now be able to dictate the future of V-Tech to the apathetic 90%. In this case the minority wins the election.
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Dude. Do you understand what "unopposed" means in an election? Apathy over a true race is one thing, and we generally suffer from that as a society in a presidential election. But there is NO POINT this year, in an SGA election.
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“There is a lot of apathy within the student body, and people are not aware of opportunities in the SGA,” Whitehead said. “We held several info sessions and had a good turnout. When it comes down to putting your name on the ballot, people don’t understand how it works. By the time they realize, it is too late.”
WHATEVER YOU SAY. No one cares about SGA because SGA doesn't do anything. She can have her unopposed slot because it's a stupid position. I, for one, received two write-in votes for President, but only because I thought it was ridiculous they'd bother having an election and wrote in myself. Another student I met recently with the same first name tried to do the same but decided to add his vote to my name.
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