BY CORIE LYNN
Every Thursday evening, students from across the Fort Hays State University campus come together for the weekly meeting of the Student Senate.
These student senators make up the Student Government Association and represent the various colleges at FHSU.
Students can apply to join the SGA throughout the year, but the organization hosts their annual elections in April. During this time, FHSU students have the opportunity to vote for who they want to represent their college as well as who will serve as the SGA President and Vice President.
These new and returning senators then spend the year representing Fort Hays students to the state government, universities, and campus faculty. They also make decisions about student fees and are in charge of the allocation process for student organizations’ funding.
Because of these functions of the SGA, the yearly elections also stand as an important part of the organization: this is how the student body decides who they will be represented by and who will decide funding across campus.
Despite this, only 10% of the students eligible to vote in the SGA elections actually voted last April.
As low as this percentage is, this is double the number of students who voted in the 2018 election.
The SGA moved the election online in 2012. Since then, there has been a steady decrease in voter turnout until this year. In 2012, 18% of the 4,315 students that were eligible to vote, voted that year. This dropped to only 5% in 2018.
This decrease in voter participation is accompanied by a decrease in the number of students running for seats on the Student Senate. Forty-five students ran in 2012 while the last four elections have only seen between fifteen and nineteen students running.
In those same years, the number of presidential and vice-presidential tickets has dropped from two to one. Unlike voter turnout, there has not been an increase in the number of candidates running each year.
What is it that causes such low participation each year? Generally speaking, local and national elections do not see high levels of participation from young voters.
“It is usually the case that younger voters vote in smaller numbers and are harder to mobilize,” said Dr. Jay Steinmetz of the FHSU Political Science department, “It tends to be the case that the more consistent voters in our electorate are older, property owners, and generally the well-to-do.”
Dr. Larry Gould, the Political Science Department Chair, elaborated on this by discussing civic engagement.
“I’m a child of the 1960s,” he said, “Put me in the draft and think about sending me to Vietnam: I’ll be at the polls.”
To Dr. Gould, this issue of low voter turnout, on the Hays campus and across the nation, is a lack of engagement. He went onto explain that young voters will become engaged when they are directly affected by a problem, such as the draft he mentioned.
“I don’t think there was too much that directly affected the students on this campus in any controversial way or a direct way which their life depended on it, so turnout isn’t quite what it should be,” said Dr. Gould.
Dr. Steinmetz agreed with this, but said that another factor to consider is that many FHSU students aren’t from Hays or the area.
“Their home is somewhere else and that might have an effect on the amount of relevance and importance of being active in terms of voting or being part of a governing process,” he said.
In a poll by Tiger Media Network, students were asked if they voted in the SGA elections and why if they chose to not participate. Many of those who said they did not vote state that it was because they were unaware that the election was taking place.
This then raises the question of how to engage a population that is unaware of their ability to have a say in local government.
Dr. Steinmetz said it simply: “Articulating relevance is really key.”
This comes in the form of students understanding how their daily lives are impacted by those in government, particularly the SGA.
Dr. Gould later elaborated on this with the example of Open Educational Resources, which are free and reduced-cost textbooks in the process of being implemented at Fort Hays. The SGA had heavy involvement in bringing OER’s to campus which will help relieve the financial burden textbooks place on students.
Steinmetz also explained that the students need to be reached through social media, which is the best way to convey information to the current generation because of the amount of time they spend on it.
“Instead of just fliers on a wall on campus,” said Dr. Steinmetz, “[reaching out] through social media.”
More social media outreach should be used for the 2020 election, but Dr. Teresa Clounch, a faculty advisor to the Student Senate, attributes this year’s voter increase to the senators themselves.
“I was ecstatic to learn the number had doubled from last year’s because that means those senators that were currently serving one, had done a great job of promoting and sharing and two, those who were choosing to run, they were making an effort to reach out to their constituent groups,” she said.
Dr. Clounch said that she also believes that students vote in the elections because they are aware of the impact of the SGA on campus, but a lack of voters might be attributed to no competition for the presidential seat.
Two students shared why they chose to participate in this year’s election.
Cierra Schmidt said that she voted because she didn’t see a reason not to. Socoron Vega voted so he could be represented in the coming year.
“Honestly, I just decided to vote because I’ll be returning and I wanted to see people I felt comfortable with in those positions so that they can represent my goals,” Vega said.
Engagement with the SGA goes beyond the Spring election. Dr. Clounch stated that students can also become involved by participating in the Big Event, which is a day of service in Hays, and traveling to Topeka for Higher Education Day.
“It’s a great opportunity to get connected with people across the community and campus, and those two aspects I talked about, especially with the Big Event,” she said.
In this regard, students can engage with the Student Senate throughout the year, but the election is still one of the most important activities in which students can participate. It is how they can have a say in the policy and functions happening on campus.
As Dr. Clounch said, participating in the SGA elections is “just being able to cast your vote and have your voice be heard.”