With decreased student engagement, SA looks to increase voter turnout for spring elections
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During the last two Syracuse University Student Association elections, voter turnout from SU and SUNY ESF students decreased by over 5.5%. Now, heading into SA’s election for the 2023-24 school year, SA members are looking to increase turnout.
Despite an increase in the number of eligible SU undergraduate voters due to over enrollment for the 2022-23 school year, just 4.4% of eligible student voters cast a vote in the fall 2022 election compared to the 9.9% voter turnout in the spring 2022 election.
SA Board of Elections Chair Otto Sutton said that though it’s hard to predict turnout, he’s seeing worse voter turnout in this year’s election compared to spring 2022. Sutton said he wouldn’t be surprised if this year’s voter turnout rates matched or decreased compared to last year’s turnout.
“It’s important to remember that every year is going to be different. It brings a new set of candidates, a new set of issues,” Sutton said. “Those all are factors that play into students’ level of engagement.”
Other universities across New York state have also struggled with decreased voter turnout for undergraduate student government elections, SA Board of Elections Vice Chair Taylor Stover said. Cornell University reported that out of 14,805 eligible voters, only 1,564 individuals, or 10.5%, participated in its Spring 2022 Student Assembly election, a decrease from its spring 2021 turnout of 23.6%.
SUNY Binghamton’s Student Association, however, saw a 16.8% increase from 2021 in its March 2022 SA Executive Board and University Council representative election after implementing a ranked-choice voting system, which SU’s SA also implemented last spring.
Four total presidential candidates campaigned in Binghamton’s spring 2022 election, compared to just two presidential candidates for this year’s SA election.
In spring 2021, when Bruen ran unopposed in his bid for SA president, the organization experienced delays in meeting the necessary student votership threshold of 10%. The low turnout forced SA to amend its constitution to extend voting by a day in order to meet the threshold and avoid holding another election.
With SA’s current executives graduating, no candidate is running for re-election to the positions of president, vice president or comptroller. Following this semester, an entirely new set of executive members will take on the responsibility of representing the student body to SU’s Board of Trustees. Stover emphasized the importance of students having a hand in who fills that role.
“If students want to have a voice in determining who is their voice to the administration, to the Board of Trustees, who is representing them at the university, this is the time to really get involved,” Stover said.
To try and increase turnout for this spring’s election, SA is sending voting forms directly to ESF students, Sutton said. Other efforts include signage in the Schine Student Center and on the quad, as well as campus-wide emails that highlight SA’s initiatives.
“I think that’s a really critical thing we’ve done to sort of open it up to everyone,” Sutton said. “We keep trying to do everything we can to make sure that students are seeing this, that they know they have every opportunity to vote.”
Sutton said SA’s advertising is free to avoid spending student money to advertise right back to students on further elections. He said SA saves the money for other work, including advocacy work and events for students.
“Student Association does have a tangible impact on students’ lives, and so I think it’s about making sure that we are, as an organization, helping students to realize that impact,” Sutton said.
After voting closes on Friday at 11:59 p.m., SA will release an update on to-date voter turnout levels later in the week, Stover said.
“If students want to have a voice in determining who is their voice to the administration, to the Board of Trustees, who is representing them at the university, this is the time to really get involved,” Stover said.
Correction: a previous version of this article misstated SA Board of Elections Vice Chair Taylor Stover’s name as “Lauren Stover.” The Daily Orange regrets this error.
