USU wins Campus Cup despite low voter turnout
According to the Cache County Clerk’s office, 40 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots in Utah, a historic low that has not been matched since 1960. However, Utah State University active student electorate did win the Campus Cup, a voter registration competition hosted by the Lt. Governor’s office.
Within the eight voter precincts on and near campus, 4,905 people registered to vote, and 897 of that number voted this election. For campus elections last spring, however, 3,693 students participated.
“I would imagine more students actually vote in our student elections than government elections,” said Casey Saxton, student advocate vice president. “I think it’s probably because the students feel like the student elections here impact them more, and it’s also easy to vote. You just log in on a website and vote. The government election voting process is a bit more complicated, and you have to register to vote.”
The Government Relations Council (GRC) is group of 21 students appointed to advocate for student interests in various political settings. Around election time, their primary concern is for voter registration and student voter turnout.
In 2012, at 51 percent voter turnout, Utah ranked thirty-ninth nationally in voter participation.
“What we hear is there’s not a lot of really competitive races,” said Justin Lee, deputy director of elections for the Lt. Governor in an interview with Utah Public Radio. “I think — and other people think this, as well — that it’s the competitive races that really drive some turnout.”
Saxton agreed.
“I think that because races aren’t competitive all the time in Cache Valley, it just causes people to not really be interested in voting,” he said.
USU recently won the Campus Cup, a trophy which distinguishes the university from other Utah colleges for higher voter participation.
“Part of the competition was voter registration, and at Utah State we registered 910 students to vote,” Saxton said. “Part of it was a social media component, which was simply meant to drive voter turnout since we can’t track who actually does vote.”
After voting, students were encouraged to post a picture of their “I voted” sticker or sealed absentee ballot to Twitter, Instagram or Vine with #usuvotes.
“This Campus Cup is a win for all of us,” said Ian Nemelka, GRC member. “With this victory, Utah State has once again proved that we want to be heard. We put a lot of effort this year into getting students excited about voting — and not just voting, but making an educated vote. We know students are busy, so we try to be the advocates between them and the state and local governments. This way the students can still stay involved and still have a voice.”
The Campus Cup will be presented by the Lt. Governor’s office at an event of the GRC’s choosing, which is yet to be decided. USU will have possession of the cup for two years, until the competition is held again for the 2016 presidential election.
“Because it’ll be a presidential election, I would expect that the competition itself will be tougher in 2016,” Saxton said. “I think more schools will be more actively engaged in getting students to vote. There will be a lot more hype about voting that year, so it’ll probably be more competitive than it was this year.”
Saxton added that although the contest was motivating, it wasn’t the only reason the GRC tried to help students register.
“The Campus Cup was a contest,” Saxton said. “We would’ve done voter registration regardless of the Campus Cup. Overall, I was very pleased with the number of students we were able to register to vote: 910. I think that’s probably the most USU has ever registered in a single season before. So (we’re) very pleased with that. We’re excited that we won the Campus Cup. We have those bragging rights against the University of Utah and BYU.”
GRC Director Andy Pierucci, however, found that registering 910 people “wasn’t as easy as it should be.”
“Our generation has had the hardest time bouncing back from the economic downturn of 2008,” Pierucci said “Far too many college students are disengaged from the political process.”
There was some speculation concerning the mail-in ballot system, which was adopted this summer. Some believe it hindered the voting process, particularly for students.
“Part of me thinks it’s nice because it’s convenient, and in theory it should boost voter turnout,” Saxton said.
However, it did present some difficulties. Several concerned students approached Saxton after not receiving their ballot, and many lost motivation to vote.
“A lot of them just didn’t even bother, because at that point, they didn’t have the ballot and they didn’t care,” he said. “If they can get some of those kinks worked out, I think it will be a decent system. There’s challenges and opportunities with it. It would be really nice to have a system where both were offered — where it’s vote by mail, but they do also offer a couple voting locations. It would be very convenient on campus for students to have a polling location.”
USUSA elections will take place in March of next year.
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