Though voter turnout in the recent University-wide spring elections was the highest in four years at 38 percent, a mere 10 voters took part in the Education School’s later elections for Education Council.
Despite efforts from the University Board of Elections to improve voter participation — including the creation of a separate voting period for Education School races — several other factors may have lessened the impact of those changes and contributed to the low turnout.
“None of the races were contested,” current Education Council President Jesse Rine said. “It’s hard to drive up interest with that. It’s hard to get motivated to vote in an election that is unopposed.”
Not only were four races uncontested, but for nine positions in the Council, including President and Vice President, no one ran at all.
Rine also said he wondered if splitting the voting periods — originally done to enhance Education School students’ voting opportunities — may have created an obstacle for eligible students to overcome. Education students voted in one block during the University-wide elections and then did so again during a second voting block intended solely for Education School elections.
“It would be interesting to see if a larger group of Education students voted in the first block,” he said. According to the UBE Web site, 72 Education School students voted in the University-wide elections.
Even when considering the possibility that changes actually may have hindered student turnout instead of improving it, UBE President Alisa Abbott said she was concerned about the lack of student participation. She said the Public Policy School, which also voted during an additional spring elections block, saw a 70 percent — or 39 student — turnout. Moreover, Abbott said, all Public Policy elections were uncontested except the race for the school’s Honor Committee representatives.
“Clearly there was some miscommunication,” she said about the Education School’s lack of participation, noting that the UBE did “everything in its power” to get the word out, including sending e-mails to student leaders reminding them to encourage their constituencies to vote.
“It’s understandable to delete [e-mails] like that, but I’m just shocked that it was only 10 people,” she said.
Emily Davis, a fourth-year doctoral student in Curry, said she takes complete responsibility for her lack of involvement in the election process.
“It’s my fault,” she said. “I didn’t take the time to learn about the candidates. It’s just the lowest thing on my to-do list.”
Rine also noted that the voting block for Curry students was just before Spring Break.
“People may have [already] been checked out,” he said.
Fourth-year Education student Lesean Carey — the newly elected Scholarship & Professional Development Chair — said she was one of the 10 students who voted, adding that she predicted the low turnout from the beginning.
“It was expected that voter turnout was going to be so low,” Carey said. “I had to remind [my friends] that they needed to vote next week. I think that a week later people forgot.”
She attributed the lack of interest in running for positions to the nature of being an Education School student.
“I think people in our program people are so busy completing their undergrad and masters at the same time,” she said.
Because some Education Council positions remain vacant, Carey said she will be meeting with the current Council next week to discuss recruiting people for the unfilled positions.
Abbott emphasized that Carey and other new Council members elected during the recent elections must be considered legitimate candidates, though only 10 students voted. She added, however, that the UBE will consider setting up decorum rules for next year’s election cycle.
“We can publicize why it’s a good thing to vote,” Abbott said. “But student self-governance also means choosing not to vote.”
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