Tufts' Elections Board (ELBO) held elections to fill the two empty freshman seats in the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate yesterday. Unusually late in the year, the election sought to fill the seats vacated when the original freshmen elected to the positions resigned.
Sophomore Joe Coletti, chairman of ELBO, said the late election was not the result of freshmen disinterest. Rather, he said, the senators who resigned were among many freshmen who don't realize the time commitment involved in the Senate. As the time piles up, the occasional senator loses interest.
Whatever the case, without a complete Senate, the body is unable to continue with business as usual, so there is a limited amount of time after resignations to find students to fill the positions. What results is a "special election" - which typically bring the lowest voter turnout of any election.
In addition to low-voter turnout, this election met with low candidate turnout. While apathy for student government didn't prompt the election, these poor turnouts demonstrate that it remains something of an issue.
ELBO, with limited time and resources, has advertised in many different forms, from table tents, to posters, to the Internet, but without much success. Students feel disenfranchised from the senate, Coletti said - they think they cannot make a difference in campus government and are then discouraged from running and even voting. Moreover, some students take a pride, for better or worse, in not paying attention to campus politics.
Coletti attributes some of the lack of interest to the lack of coddling students receive as the year progresses. In September, potential freshmen senators were walked through the electoral process. They heard about elections in advising groups and were encouraged to vote. But during the spring, the proactive motivation to elect new senators is not there.
There's always a lot of initial freshman interest, Coletti said. But after a disastrous performance by ELBO last semester's elections, he fears that many students will both be discouraged from the system and mistrust the electoral process. Still, the elections board is comprised of new members this time around.
Coletti said he and his fellow ELBO members want to restore the school's faith in the senatorial electoral process. "We feel like we do need to make it up not just to the freshman class, but to the student body as a whole," he said.
Coletti feels ELBO used every outlet in trying to solicit interest in the latest election, but the task was too demanding, especially since this semester's ELBO has only three members - Colleti, junior Eric Krause and Andy Stearns.
"Not having enough people in ELBO makes it harder to advertise further," Coletti said. Yesterday, he was manning the table and switching off with his other two board members due to complications that have arisen in the past with hired tablers. Last year, accusations of ballot tampering hampered the election. As a result of several such problems in the past, the current board members are spreading themselves even further, protecting the dignity of a wounded process.
Freshman Hilary Wentz, who did not vote, did not see an overwhelming amount of advertising. "I didn't vote because I hadn't heard anything about any of the candidates and it didn't really seem like that big of deal to me."
Even those who do vote often show up to select friends. Caitlin McGarthy read about the election and candidates in the Daily and saw several of the table tents. She felt motivated to elect a female to office, and was friends with one of the candidates.
"I'm also voting because Alexis [Smith] is a friend of mine and I think that the fact that she's on the freshman council and would be a Senator would give the freshman class a really powerful voice," McGarthy said. "It would be nice to have a girl in politics, because there are always guys doing it and, at least in my high school, nothing ever got done."
Several freshmen responded to the class-wide e-mail as well. That, combined with a sense of civic duty, brought freshman Daniel Mandell to the polls.
"I'm very involved in getting students involved and I think that in a democracy, every person that has the right to vote should take advantage of that right," Mandell said.
Mandell hopes that others will be inspired to vote and said ELBO is not getting students to the polls enough.
"I am still not happy with how ELBO is running the election," Mandell said, citing the lack of advertising of the current election. Coletti and ELBO are hoping to change such negative perceptions. In the end, perhaps, it's the candidates that can get out the vote.
Freshman Lisa Schupmann saw the e-mail and signs for the election, but what made her vote was personal attention from one of the candidates.
"I saw ads, but the biggest reason I voted was that one of the candidates came to my room last night and talked to me about the election," Schupmann said. According to Schupman, the candidate discussed how he could personally make a difference on the senate.
"That pushed me the most to come vote...I voted for him," she said.
