How to vote in the student government elections

Elianna Novitch and Sarah Watson, [email protected]

March 27, 2018

Audience members listen at the UISG Presidental debate at the Shambaugh Auditorium on March 22nd, 2018. (Sid Peterson/The Daily Iowan)

Voting for this year’s UISG election officially opens today. Four tickets are running for office: Surge, Empower Iowa, Envision Iowa, and Student Collective Party.

Many hope to see a higher voter turnout than that in previous years. Student Election Commissioner Johanna Hetherington said she imagines this year will see a higher turnout than years past because more parties are involved.

“I think each of the tickets does a good job of representing and trying to engage groups of people who maybe weren’t necessarily interested before,” she said.

Last year, the executive ticket of current UISG President Jacob Simpson and current Vice President Lilián Sánchez ran unopposed on the Bridge UI Party in the UISG election; voter turnout was a meager 12.19 percent.

RELATED: UISG presidential candidates debate university issues

Their predecessors, Rachel Zuckerman and Lauren Freeman, won in a landslide election, and turnout was still low at 13.6 percent. The last truly contested race was in 2015, which brought in a 30 percent student-turnout rate.

Simpson said he was excited by the turnout to both the vice-presidential and presidential debates — both debates packed the Main Library Shambaugh Auditorium, and overflow crowded the aisles.

“I feel encouraged that students are coming out to learn about the election candidates, and that’s definitely something different between last year and this year,” Simpson said. “Not only will I hope for turnout to be greater, but I’m also really happy with how people have been educating themselves about the people who are running.”

He said it doesn’t matter who is elected, he looks forward to working with the next administration to continue progress.

“What I’m looking forward to is, no matter who’s elected, sitting down to talk about the progress we’ve made this year and how we can transition administrations,” Simpson said. “What you always hope for is that the next administration is better than the one before.”

Hetherington emphasized that it’s important for students to vote in order to make their voices are heard.