MSA elections continue through Wednesday

Last year's voters made up 10 percent of the undergraduate population.

By Kaylen Ralph

Published March 23, 2010

The Missouri Students Association Senate and Referendum elections began Monday and will continue through Wednesday.

Pursuant to the passage of a fall 2005 referendum, the Senate is to be composed of 71 senators, 50 of which will be re-elected or newly elected in this 72-hour period. Twenty seats are reserved for at-large elections in the fall, and one seat is reserved for the Senate speaker.

In last year's spring elections, approximately 2,500 students, or 10 percent of the undergraduate population, participated in the voting process. Board of Elections Commissioners Chairman Dan Kelley said this year's totals are estimated to be around this same level.

Senators are elected through their perspective school or college within the university and most commonly use Facebook groups, fan pages and events as campaign mechanisms.

Kelley said the number of people running for election in some colleges does not foster fierce competition.

"The most heavily used campaigning tool is Facebook groups and Facebook events," Kelley said. "Sometimes elections aren't contested, like this year we have nine vacant seats in the business school, and there's nine people running. There's usually not a need for aggressive campaigning."

Kelley said the College of Arts and Science sees the most competition because it has the largest voting body and therefore the biggest pool of potential senators.

"They have the best numbers and the most people running," Kelley said. "The more people you have running, the more voting participation you'll have. Journalism does well too in terms of percentages, business too. Those are the best three."

Aside from knowing which schools and colleges have the most competition, there is little other concrete information regarding voter turnout available.

"The numbers don't get analyzed really by anyone, but there's a lot you could probably look into," Senate Speaker Evan Wood said. "Which college has the highest turnout? Do referendums affect it? Is there just a block of students who will vote whenever they get the chance?"

Wood said Senate elections all have the potential to be contentious if voters chose to be informed on the issues elected senators would be required to take a stand on. He also said senators could do a better job of campaigning and getting their names out to their constituents.

"I think that there are a lot of simple steps that sometimes aren't pursued that could additionally help," Wood said.

MSA President Tim Noce said voter turnout fluctuates based on whether there are hot-topic referenda up for consideration. He gave the IncludeMe initiative and Sustain Mizzou, both referenda on last year's ballot, as examples of issues that increased participation.

"Strictly numbers wise, if you have a highly anticipated referendum, more voters will turn out," Noce said.

This year, the only referendum voters will see this year concerns the expansion of EZ-Charge to downtown venues. Wood said he is unsure as to how much potential the referendum would have on increasing participation due to a lack of publicity.

The question of whether the system of representation is the most effective is one that has been discussed since last semester.

"As a student, it's hard to figure out who represents you, and I think that's a huge flaw," Wood said. "It could be remedied by listing every college each senator is in. The system doesn't measure for a high level of accountability because we as senators don't know who we're reporting to."