When voting in the Associated Students Inc. elections moved from paper to online balloting in 2008, voter participation increased from 1,027 students to 4,800 students.
Since then, voter participation has declined. In 2011, voter participation in student government elections was 2,941 students.
ASI elections begin March 19, and candidates are campaigning on campus to get students to vote.
John Haberstroh, a senior history major running for ASI president, said he thinks there will be a bigger voter turnout this year because there are more candidates.
Haberstroh and his running mate, Jonathon Bolin, who is also a senior history major, said they are trying to reach people who have never voted before.
“We’re hitting a new population of student voters,” Haberstroh said.
The pair said they have been rallying people to vote by visiting classrooms, campus clubs, athletic teams and club sports.
Jorge Soriano, a theatre arts and Chinese studies major, is running for vice president. He said he is not only educating students about the elections but also about ASI in general.
“We’re going to go to as many classes as we can,” Soriano said.
Soriano also said that students tend to care more about ASI elections and voting when students see how it can “affect them personally.”
ASI presidential candidate James Suazo, an English education major, said he is trying to bring more awareness to ASI in addition to reaching out to student voters.
“We have to be active listeners,” Suazo said.
He said he is aware of low voter participation in ASI elections, but that outreach to students could bring more voters to the polls.
“We need to foster more of a connection to the campus,” Suazo said.