Despite the absence of a Pirate Captain, voter turnout for Monday and Tuesday’s Student Government elections barely faltered from last year’s record-breaking numbers that were undoubtedly connected to the swashbuckling campaign of current student body president, Whil Piavis.
According to Elections Commission Chair Kevin Hassell, nearly 6,400 students voted earlier this week, dropping just two percent from last spring’s unprecedented 25 percent student body participation in Student Government elections.
“I give a lot of credit to the publicity from the candidates, Elections Commission and media,” Hassell said. “Being on the same page with each other and telling people to vote, vote, vote, I think that we definitely received a lot of attention.”
Hassell said Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Tom Stafford’s initial delay of the elections originally scheduled for March 27 and 28 may have helped make students aware of the proceedings.
“For the last two weeks it’s been hard to be on campus and not hear about the elections,” he said.
Alex Carter, an engineering junior and newly re-elected senator, said media attention played the biggest role in prompting students to the online polls.
“I would guess the media attention in covering the tension between Student Government and the administration and the controversy over the part-time students’ roles caused public awareness to be pretty high,” Carter said.
Jasper Hrong, a junior in computer engineering, said he gained his knowledge of the election from mass reminders.
“I knew when the elections were through an e-mail I received from an N.C. State listserv,” Hrong said.
Stafford said voter turnout was ambiguous and up for interpretation.
“It really depends on your point of view,” Stafford said. “Anytime you have a large campus you can go one of two ways. You could say ‘Well, gosh, 25 percent is a pretty good turnout.’ But if you want to go the other way you could say ‘Gosh, there is a large majority of the student body that doesn’t care about Student Government.'”
Carter said residual interest in student politics from Piavis’ campaign could still be drawing voters, but he doesn’t see numbers dropping anytime soon.
“I don’t see why it would dip back down,” Carter said. “Unless Student Government did something that would make students disinterested again, I think voters will keep coming out.”
As far as controversy goes, there is plenty in Student Government to keep students interested.
Despite the passing of the Yes for 7,000 referendum by more than 71 percent approval, Stafford maintains his views on the issue have not changed and he will nullify the result of that part of the election.
“This is a very important issue that needs to be discussed thoroughly, and I will do so with the newly elected officials,” Stafford said.
The referendum would allow Student Government to change the wording of the Student Body Constitution and would make part-time students eligible to participate in Student Government.
Carter said Stafford’s move was nothing new in the tense relationship between the legislative branch and the University’s most prominent administrator on campus.
“He’s been pretty good at being confrontational,” Carter said. “Hopefully we can come to a compromise; [Stafford] already compromised on allowing part-time students to vote, so hopefully we can get part-time student fees pro-rated.”
Stafford said newly elected officials, specifically in the legislative branch, needed to act quickly to make Student Government successful.
“The future of Student Government depends more on how they operate with morals and integrity and the relationships they build with one another and University administration,” he said.
Stafford said he looked forward to developing a working relationship with Zach Adams, winner of the race for the Student Senate presidency, despite an academic year marked by outspoken critic of the vice chancellor by Forrest Hinton, who previously held the same position.
