2008 Woodie Awards
Voter turnout at CMU similar among MAC foes
Many schools average fewer than 2,000 participants
By: Angie Favot
Issue date: 4/2/08 Section: News
The Student Government Association's presidential elections seem to draw an underrepresented amount of student participation.
But Central Michigan University measures up when compared to other Mid-American Conference schools, which have similar enrollments.
CMU's SGA election brought in 1,722 total votes - fewer than 10 percent of the student body - and two presidential candidates. Eastern Michigan University's Student Government reported that 1,619 students voted in their two-candidate presidential election and Kent State University's student newspaper reported 1,295 students cast their votes for the Undergraduate Student Senate election.
In contrast, Bowling Green State University's Undergraduate Student Government reported their elections brought in 2,952 votes, but had four presidential tickets.
Newly elected SGA President Paul Pridgeon, Montgomery senior, said the amount of candidates on the ballot directly effects the amount of votes cast.
"We would hope next year more candidates would run to increase votes," he said.
EMU had 18,245 undergraduate students in 2006-07, BGSU had 22,882 and Kent State had 29,227.
Kingsford senior Brad Sjoquist, the new SGA vice president, said increasing the amount of senatorial and treasurer candidates would also bring in more votes.
Pridgeon said to improve voter turnout, SGA could publicize the elections earlier.
"We have a budget for these things, and Brad and I are going to use it," he said.
Sjoquist also said if students became more engaged with the vote.cmich.edu Web site, it would not be so out of the norm to vote for the elections.
"We could have a more frequent general election of the student body on the bigger issues," he said.
Sterling Heights senior Mike Zeig, 2007-08 SGA president, agreed the organization should do more campaigning to promote elections.
"I think coverage needs to improve so students know what's going on," he said.
Zeig said sending e-mails or posting something on the CMU Portal would work, but the responsibility should not fall on the university.
"I don't think the university should have to do anything because SGA is student run," he said. "The only thing they could do is use the student listserv, but they reserve that for emergencies."
Zeig said between Facebook groups and e-mails, a lot of students can be informed about the presidential issues easily.
"People check Facebook everyday, and if they really wanted to know about the candidates they're already on Facebook," he said.
news@cm-life.com
But Central Michigan University measures up when compared to other Mid-American Conference schools, which have similar enrollments.
CMU's SGA election brought in 1,722 total votes - fewer than 10 percent of the student body - and two presidential candidates. Eastern Michigan University's Student Government reported that 1,619 students voted in their two-candidate presidential election and Kent State University's student newspaper reported 1,295 students cast their votes for the Undergraduate Student Senate election.
In contrast, Bowling Green State University's Undergraduate Student Government reported their elections brought in 2,952 votes, but had four presidential tickets.
Newly elected SGA President Paul Pridgeon, Montgomery senior, said the amount of candidates on the ballot directly effects the amount of votes cast.
"We would hope next year more candidates would run to increase votes," he said.
EMU had 18,245 undergraduate students in 2006-07, BGSU had 22,882 and Kent State had 29,227.
Kingsford senior Brad Sjoquist, the new SGA vice president, said increasing the amount of senatorial and treasurer candidates would also bring in more votes.
Pridgeon said to improve voter turnout, SGA could publicize the elections earlier.
"We have a budget for these things, and Brad and I are going to use it," he said.
Sjoquist also said if students became more engaged with the vote.cmich.edu Web site, it would not be so out of the norm to vote for the elections.
"We could have a more frequent general election of the student body on the bigger issues," he said.
Sterling Heights senior Mike Zeig, 2007-08 SGA president, agreed the organization should do more campaigning to promote elections.
"I think coverage needs to improve so students know what's going on," he said.
Zeig said sending e-mails or posting something on the CMU Portal would work, but the responsibility should not fall on the university.
"I don't think the university should have to do anything because SGA is student run," he said. "The only thing they could do is use the student listserv, but they reserve that for emergencies."
Zeig said between Facebook groups and e-mails, a lot of students can be informed about the presidential issues easily.
"People check Facebook everyday, and if they really wanted to know about the candidates they're already on Facebook," he said.
news@cm-life.com
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