Aggie’s indifference to student government elections
Utah State University’s yearly student association elections are taking place — but many students have no idea.
“I did know a little bit about the upcoming elections, but not much,” Sam Gardner, sophomore, said. “I saw people posting about it on Instagram, but that is all I have seen about it.”
The student body elects their peers to lead the Utah State University Student Association, or USUSA, each year. This student government helps improve students’ experiences at Utah State through coordinating, planning, and advertising events on campus.
“I knew about election week because of the signs that were up around campus, but I know almost nothing about it,” Trenton Peters, junior, said.
Students are given the opportunity to vote and choose who will be in office for the upcoming school year. They do this by casting their ballot by going to vote.usu.edu, logging in with their A-number, filling out the ballot and submitting it from there.
“I am not going to vote because I don’t think students would have enough power to get anything done,” Gardner said.
Many students said they are unaware of USUSA elections because they aren’t informed about what USUSA officers do for USU.
“I would pay attention if I knew what they do and I don’t see the point in trying to elect officers when it’s just the event staff running events anyway,” John Moffitt, sophomore, said.
Because some students don’t know much about the student association, they aren’t very invested in elections.
“I’m not too interested in them. I’ve never felt I’ve been benefited or determined my student government,” Peters said. “So, I’ve never felt like I’ve had any reason to be interested.”
Freshman Jillian Nelson asked her seven roommates if they were aware of election week — only those on the USUSA President’s Cabinet knew about it.
“I feel like the student body doesn’t even know about it, so maybe more advertising could be done to promote it,” Nelson said.
Jan. 10-31, students declared their candidacy. There will be two weeks of elections, Feb. 14-18, and Feb. 28 to March 4.
“I don’t care who wins the election because it’s not going to make a difference in my life,” Gardner said.
With more advertising and getting the student body’s attention about the elections, students said they would have more of an interest in following what was going on.
Students have also said that they would be more likely to participate in the voting process if they knew more information for when it takes place, the candidates running and how to vote.