Student turnout far short of SGA goal

Disappointment filled the SGA's empty vans on Tuesday, as they transported student voters to the College Park election polls.

Drivers feared the roughly 25 to 30 passengers that showed up for the ride were not as influential as the 200 voters they hoped to bring or the 1,064 they managed to register.

"Honestly we did everything we could do aside from calling each person on the day of, which we should have done," said co-chair of the Governmental Affairs Committee Matt Stern. He added the lesson he learned was, "For students to get involved, they need to be held by the hand every step of the way."

Still, with a remarkably slim margin between candidates in District 2 and the outcome in doubt until provisional ballots are counted today, even the Student Government Association's small turnout could conceivably sway the vote on one of the council's contested seats. The results last night showed two contenders in the district, Jack Perry and Bob Catlin, tied at 95 votes, with Stacey Baca a hair behind at 94.

And those who took advantage of the vans appreciated the SGA pitching in with rides. Freshman cellular biology and genetics major Heidi Hempel said she would not have voted without the SGA's vans because she didn't know where her polling place was.

"It's every citizen's obligation to go out and vote or someone else is going to make the decision for them," Hempel said. "And that's not the point of democracy."

Yet, at times yesterday the vans missed their trips because there were no voters to take, and when they did travel to the polls, they never used more than two rows of the 12-passenger seating.

When SGA driver Erin Curran tried to recruit outside of the North Campus Diner the responses ranged from "I'm 17" to "what election?"

Nor did everyone who came out to vote seem not apathetic.

"To be honest I didn't know anything about the names that were on there," said freshman architecture major Alexander Pei, who could have placed the deciding vote in District 2. "So I picked the top-two names on the [alphabetical] list."

Even if the vans helped students get to the polls, though, there was some discontent expressed over the uncontested elections in Districts 3 and 4, where most of the student population in the city lives.

"That's really pathetic," said freshman civil engineering major Zach Rubin about the uncontested election in District 4, where he lives. "It's pretty pointless; there shouldn't be uncontested elections because that means there's no issues."

SGA President Andrew Friedson said that the SGA's push wasn't about any individual candidate but getting students involved and influencing city policy. The SGA provided short bios of the candidates for students, but declined to make endorsements.

"We definitely wanted students to lay their claim in College Park," said Stern. "I think we were successful in getting students more engaged."

SGA members offered rides by text messaging friends and yelling out of the van windows at passing students, though the number the SGA drove to the polls does not necessarily reflect overall student turnout.

"Turnout was stronger than the vans suggest," said Friedson. "I know a lot of students walked to City Hall. We won't know for sure until we get the election results released to us over winter break."

Uncontested councilman Mark Cook said he had 20 volunteers knocking on doors trying to get students to the polls yesterday.

"I'm thinking about the future," Cook said. "We are in a pivotal point in the city's development."

Cook added university students aren't inspired by the leadership they receive, and they want the very best from the city.

Asked about turnout from students, Cook replied, "I want better."

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