Last year, more than 3,000 students voted in the Associated Student Government election for president, or about 38 percent of the total undergraduate population.
These numbers show participation in elections and voter turnout can be improved at Northwestern, ASG Communications Director Ren Hargens said.
“I remember last year a lot of students didn’t know when elections were coming,” the Communication junior said. “Then once elections were occurring, they didn’t know who was running.” Since last summer, Hargens has been working on ways to expand ASG’s publicity for the elections. The result is a two-stage advertising campaign targeted to both voters and prospective candidates.
The first part, which has been underway since last month, is intended to inform students of the opportunity to run for an ASG executive board position. Hargens has used e-mail lists; flyers in different campus locations, including Norris University Center, University Library and dining halls; and an advertisement on the NULink Web site to publicize the petition due date, Friday, April 4.
The second part of the publicity campaign will advertise the candidates for each position with the goal to increase voter participation.
The first part of the publicity campaign might have already attracted potential candidates from outside student government, ASG President Jonathan Webber said.
“I’ve gotten e-mails from a couple people who I wasn’t anticipating running who have expressed interest,” the Weinberg senior said. “But I don’t know if they’re going to run or how they got to know about it.”
Once candidates decide to run, ASG will work more to inform candidates of the guidelines they will be following, ASG Elections Commissioner Samir Pendse said. There will be a forum for candidates Friday evening, after all petitions are due.
The Weinberg sophomore said he felt the forum was necessary after serving on the elections commission last year.
“A lot of the candidates kept coming in, not really knowing what our stance on something was,” Pendse said.
He added that the new forum should resolve any questions the candidates might have.
“The whole election commission will be there,” Pendse said. “We’ll tell them exactly what the processes will be, tell them exactly how we interpret the guidelines and we’ll interpret any ambiguities.”
Once the election is underway, ASG will post flyers listing candidates for each of the four offices up for election: president, executive vice president, social services vice president and administrative vice president. The flyers will include short summaries of the candidates’ backgrounds and positions based on information the candidates provide on their application forms.
Hargens said she thinks information about the candidates as individuals will persuade more students to vote on election day.
“Adding a human element is great because sometimes it’s hard to come into contact with everybody,” she said. “That will help students better connect with these people who are going to run student government.”
Although the election changes as a whole were minor, ASG’s intent to encourage greater participation is positive, Webber said.
“One of the keys to the democratic process is letting people know that they have the opportunity to be involved,” he said. “Otherwise it’s a closed system.”
