Fourth-year College student Kenneth Alger is fed up with student elections. Increasingly, University elections seem unimportant and futile, he said. Even though Alger took the time to look over the Student Council election Web site, he still chose not to vote.
"I didn't know who any of the candidates were, or anything about them. It just wasn't worth my time to research them," Alger said.
In a year when student elections and the presidential primaries coincide, Alger's response to politics is typical of many University students.
Alger, a Virginia resident, did not feel compelled to vote in the Virginia Republican primary last week either.
Alger said his decision not to vote was influenced by his position as a student rather than by the campaign. "[Voting] just doesn't feel like a priority when I have a paper due the next day, classes to go to on Tuesday and midterms coming up. I just don't have time to drive back to my district to vote, and it is easy to forget to apply for an absentee ballot," he said.
Most students remain dependent on their parents for financial support throughout their college careers and, consequently, often are indifferent to issues that otherwise would have a more direct impact on their lives.
"It is just a matter of being lazy," former University Democrats President Rhodes Ritenour said. "People don't want to educate themselves, they just want the information to come to them."
Ritenour equates student indifference toward national and University elections to near-sightedness. "Students don't understand that decisions we make today will affect us many years down the road when we are older," he said.
Student apathy for voting on national issues is reflected in apathy toward Student Council elections.
"To many people, the Student Council and our elections seem irrelevant. Unfortunately, the interest just isn't there," Student Council Elections Co-Chairman Jonathan Bertsch said.
Although participation in this year's election rose by 30 percent from last year, only 4,838 of 17,755 students voted, a paltry 27.2 percent of potential voters.
Bertsch was encouraged by the increase in voter participation and said he hopes the trend will continue in future elections. "The more students who vote, the better the candidate field will have to be. With these numbers, it can easily turn into a popularity contest," he said.
But Alger said he isoverwhelmed by what he described as a barrage of unsubstantiated flyers, posters and chalkings around Grounds. Student Elections Co-Chair Nancy Peterson said the flyers become necessary when turnout for elections is low.
"The candidates need visibility, and, unfortunately, they feel forced to post flyers and chalk the sidewalks to have people remember their names when they go to vote," Peterson said. She said the sometimes preponderance of flyers and chalkings make the candidates seem insincere and contributes to a cycle of abstention from students.
Larry J. Sabato, professor of government and foreign affairs, is more optimistic about the future of student voter turnout.
"Something unpredictable will happen to bring activism out," Sabato said. "Our country has been quiescent too long."
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