Once a semester, hopeful LSU students compete to fill Student Government positions in various branches of the organization. Spring elections are marked by lively and engaging campaigns that bring thousands of students out to vote. Fall elections are not afforded the same level of student involvement.
Any student enrolled at LSU can vote in SG elections. Students are invited to vote for senate, college council and executive positions, like president and vice president.
In the spring 2020 SG election, 4,469 students voted, compared to 1,228 students who voted in the fall 2020 SG election, according to political communications junior and Commissioner of Elections Claire Parish.
“I believe voter turnout is much lower in the fall due to a lack of active campaigning,” Parish said. “In the spring, candidates will spend an entire week campaigning around campus. This usually does not happen in the fall, and most people tend to campaign solely on social media.”
Mass communication senior Sophia Pollman agreed that the lack of student involvement in fall SG elections has to do with the shortage of advertising on the part of the candidates.
Pollman said that candidates almost exclusively campaign on social media, especially since the onset of COVID-19.
“I only saw a couple of Instagram posts about the fall election,” Pollman said. “The lack of turnout is because the people who are voting are the people in SG. They don’t do a good job of reaching people outside of the organization to vote. The people who aren’t in SG don’t know who’s running, they don’t see how student government benefits them.”
SG Vice President Hannah Barrios echoed Pollman’s sentiment regarding lack of students’ understanding about the importance of SG.
“I think to help turnout students need to realize the impact of elections and the importance of electing students to represent you,” Barrios said. “In fall and spring elections, you elect representatives that will bring your concerns to administration and craft initiatives to help your LSU experience be the best it can be.”
Pollman said many students don’t know a percentage of their tuition is allocated to SG initiatives.
“We’re paying a fee to SG, so we need to use our votes,” Pollman said. “Especially when you look at politics outside of LSU, it is so crucial that we as the young generation are voting in as many elections as we can, even SG elections.”
SG President Stone Cox attributes the low voter turnout in fall elections to the fact that there is no presidential candidate attached to the fall ticket, and many Senate and College Council tickets run unopposed. Parish agreed that voting for a presidential candidate encourages more students to vote.
“Personally, I believe that with the president and VP positions being up [in the spring] it gives all students something to vote for that is not their specific college,” Parish said.
Cox said that on election day, Moodle usually features a link to TigerLink, the platform students use to vote in university elections. This fall election, however, there was a slight change in procedure that may have contributed to the lack of voter turnout.
Parish said she received an email from Vice President of Online and Distance education, Alexandra Thackaberry, stating that the University would not be using the Moodle homepage for announcements because of Moodle’s recent upgrades. This stopped Parish from advertising elections in the way she normally would.
“Hopefully, LSU SG can work with LSU Online in the spring to bring announcements back,” Parish said.
Barrios said that SG informs students about voting on the day of elections through emails and social media posts, and she encourages every student to engage in the University’s democratic process.
“You are given the opportunity to choose who represents you, so, even if it just seems like a vote on TigerLink, it matters,” Barrios said. “Low voter turnout is never a good thing for any election, as we always want to have every student’s voice heard. It’s so important to be engaged as a student and to remember how valuable your vote is.”
