With a six percent voter turnout, the Associated Students Inc. directors for the 2008-09 school year were announced April 30 following a month of campaigning.

ASI President Christina Romero declared Executive Vice President Miguel Cervantes the new ASI president before a cheering crowd of about 50 students.

Cervantes ran uncontested in the election under the Action slate. Nine students were members of the team running with a platform that aims to celebrate diversity, promote unity and provide student services.

Eight members of Action were elected into the 11 positions that candidates ran for, including all five executive positions.

Current Secretary of State Affairs Roberto Torres is the new executive vice president and incumbent Tim Snyder was reelected as vice president of Finance. Felix Barba, current director of Arts and Letters, is the new vice president of University Affairs, and Kathryn Murray is the new vice president of Academic Affairs.

Two of the eight candidates who ran under the Imagine Revolution slate that promoted change within ASI were elected. One of the four candidates running individually was elected into office.

Kiran Tariq, director of Business, ran individually for her current position and said it was intimidating because she didn’t have the support system provided by a slate. She said candidates who are new to ASI and its elections should run with a slate.

Tariq said the majority of candidates who were elected into office were not only members of Action, but have the experience in ASI, know how to approach the elections and have more publicity and visibility than other candidates.Murray said students voted for the candidates they wanted to. She said members of Action talked to students every day during campaigning and on election days.

“The people on my team, we all worked really hard at getting our name out there and letting these students know who we were and what we’re about,” Murray said.

Eight of the 11 candidates elected into office are involved with ASI on the board or in a staff position. During her involvement with ASI, Murray said candidates without experience often do not take action until the second semester in office. She said they spend the first semester getting acquainted with the organization and procedures.

“(Current ASI-involved candidates) understand the organization. We all are acquainted with the people we need to talk (with) to get things done,” Murray said. “When we start, we’ll be ready to get things done.”

Christina Steuart, new director of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, was never involved with ASI. She said students without experience can provide a fresh perspective.

“Once you’re involved with something, you can be blind-sided by all the things you’re supposed to do,” Steuart said. “(Candidates without experience) bring in a fresh set of ideas.”

She also said directors currently in the positions may become comfortable and not be as motivated as new directors.

Despite the campaigning efforts of the candidates and ASI advertising, approximately six percent of the student body – 1,616 students – voted in the elections. The voter turnout decreased from last year’s turnout by 73 students.

Sacramento State students reflected on why they didn’t vote in the elections.

Elizabeth LeCompte, senior environmental studies major, said she “didn’t feel educated enough to vote.” LeCompte didn’t know what ASI does or who the candidates were. She found out what ASI stood for on voting day when a representative asked her if she wanted to vote.

The low voter turnout might have been a result of students not feeling connected to ASI, LeCompte said.

“We see the signs but it doesn’t mean anything to us,” she said.

Kevin Hayes, junior communication studies major, didn’t vote because of a lack of interest in the elections. Hayes said he comes to campus for his classes and then leaves. Even though the candidates approached Hayes, he still didn’t want to vote.

“I was approached by a couple people who were running,” Hayes said. “I think they did a good job putting themselves out there.”

Christina Tamai, junior kinesiology major, is in her first semester at Sac State and “wasn’t really aware we vote for student government.” She was informed that an election was taking place when she saw the signs around campus.

Candidates running in the elections were disappointed at the low voter turnout.

Torres questioned what ASI did wrong to not get more students to vote. (this sentence is kind of awkward) He said ASI did more advertising of the elections this year by passing out fliers and voter booklets.

“I remember we were out there just passing out fliers and somebody from ASI passes by saying we need 76 more votes in order to reach the five percent mark. I was like, really? We’re celebrating a five percent mark?” Torres said.

Per the ASI Bylaws, five percent of eligible voters are required to vote to make the election valid.

Torres said ASI needed more presence among students and should have been promoting more with canopies and events to stress the importance of elections. He said students need to elect a student government they feel will be accountable to the students and use the student fees wisely.

Alexander Huttleston, candidate for vice president of Academic Affairs, said he thinks the low voter turnout shows “how disenfranchised students feel from the student government.”

Huttleston said he hoped the involvement of two slates and his individual efforts to encourage all students to vote would have increased turnout. He said he doesn’t feel like he has daily representation from the student government or someone to turn to for answers.

“I feel that type of impression really makes students feel like the elections are irrelevant because if they’re not seeing anything after the elections happen, it really, I think, discourages people,” Huttleston said. “If people feel like they’re not going to get anything from taking five minutes out of their lives to vote, it shows there is not a very high opinion of student government.”

Voter turnout for elections of the Associated Students of UC Davis comparably had fewer students eligible to vote, but more students voting than Sac State from 2007-08. ASI’s voter turnout ranged from 1,600 to 1,700 during this period, but voter turnout for Associated Students of UC Davis ranged from 4,600 to 2,700.

The ASI Bylaws allow all undergraduates and graduates to vote. According to the Associated Students of the UCD Bylaws, only undergraduate students are allowed to vote in the elections, decreasing the number of eligible students in comparison to Sac State.

Jeremy Ross, the most recent chair of the Associated Students of the UCD Election Committee, said voter turnout at UC Davis is highest when there is a referendum to student fees and services or when the positions are highly contested.

Ross said the voter turnout is highest among freshmen because many live on campus, but the largest flux in voter turnout is among sophomores, juniors and seniors.

Ross said the student government advertises through the student radio and newspaper, and holds debates among candidates to increase visibility of the elections. However, he said it’s difficult to reach out to students living off-campus in spread-out locations.

“There’s really not a whole lot we can do to encourage those people, especially since they all live off-campus,” Ross said. “It would cost a lot of money to really heavily reach out to all those different people.”

Ashley Downton can be reached at [email protected].