Elections: Which system is better?
While USU students were going through student body elections, universities across the state were also holding elections. What students may not know, however, is there are different ways of running such contests.
USU saw a voter turnout of less than 13 percent in February’s elections, with far less candidates. USU had 28 people running on the primary ballot this year, down from 47 last year and the 48.4 average over the last 14 years.
Many people ran unopposed, a problem that the University of Utah and Utah Valley University did not have. Despite the low numbers this year, Linda Zimmerman, the executive director of Student Involvement and Leadership at USU, sees the drop in numbers as an outlier.
“I think this year was unique. We had four current USU officers running for positions,” she said. “I think that may have hindered a few people that may have decided to run.”
University of Utah and Utah Valley University, the two largest universities in the state, both use variations of the “party system,” where a group of people run together under one banner.
“One part that I really enjoy is that you get to create an organization that has common goals and ideas,” said Justin Spangler, the recently elected student body president of U of U.
Spangler’s vice president, Madison Black, echoed her support for the party system.
“Running for a particular cause, running with a group of people, you just feel connected,” she said.
U of U had three separate parties involved this year; one was eliminated during a primary election. Then, in a final election, candidates were either a member of the Unite Party, the Vision Party or an independent. Though students had to vote individually for the candidates, their affiliated party was made known on the ballot.
“This was the first time that three parties have run,” Spangler said. “It was the highest number of people running ever.”
There are 74 elected positions at the U of U. This is in extreme contrast to UVU, which has four. UVU also uses the party system, or as they call it, “group” system.
“The team aspect is a good way of getting people involved,” said Jonothon Andrews, UVU’s student body president.
UVU students elect four people to the executive branch, who then select the rest of the student council. The four elected members usually run as a group, though they can run as independents. However, according to Andrews, running as an individual is ill-advised.
“Usually, individuals don’t have a shot or a chance because teams can print more (advertisements) with all their faces on it rather than just one,” he said.
Not everyone at these universities endorse the party system.
“There are benefits to it,” said Nathan Turner, the student government beat writer for U of U’s student newspaper, The Daily Chronicle. “But in the long run, I think it’s bad for the student body.”
That is a sentiment USU’s student body president, Douglas Fiefia, agrees with.
“If you’re not chosen to be in those parties, you just kind of can’t run, or people don’t because they are intimidated,” he said. “I feel like that way disincentivises students to run because if they’re not in the ‘in’ crowd of the groups or the parties that are running, they don’t run.”
Despite what was considered a low voter turnout in this year’s elections at USU, 3,559 people voted in the final election, just 94 votes fewer than U of U, which has almost 5,000 more students. However, voter turnout is a problem for most universities across the state.
“A lot of non-traditional students just don’t care,” Andrews said. “People are not on campus. There are a lot of night and online students.”
The issue of student voting may be one that can’t be solved.
“I don’t know how much more the (election) committee could have done to advertise and get the word out about our candidates more than we did this year,” Zimmerman said. “If students wanted to learn about their candidates, it was there for them. They didn’t have to go searching for it.”
A large group of students don’t vote. It takes a special kind of person to run, and it doesn’t necessarily help to be part of a group or party, Fiefia said.
“Running a campaign is tough,” Fiefia said. “Putting yourself out there, your feelings are out there, you put a lot of work and money into it. So you’re vulnerable, and people don’t like that. It’s tough, and I think it is easy for some students to complain and say, ‘Why don’t we have more people running?’ But at the end of the day, the people who run have to want it.”
— dahdahjm@gmail.com
Twitter: @dahdahUSU