Turnout soars for freshman elections
By Christine Higgins · The Johns Hopkins News-Letter · October 12, 2006
Student Council's freshman elections this past week were deemed a success, showing both increased voter participation and more driven campaigning on the part of candidates.
This year's elections saw ambitious campaigning on the part of Tyler Krus and Nathan Levin, elected president and vice president of the class of 2010. Many freshmen attribute the success of the elections itself to these two candidates.
Krus and Levin campaigned by distributing a gross of shirts and designed a personalized Web site stating their biographies, platforms and reasons for running, in addition to the usual distribution of flyers and candy of other candidates.
Krus attributes their dedication to personality, "We both have political careers in mind and a strong to desire to be an active force on campus. We both really wanted this, because we knew that it would be a strong base for the next four years."
His vice president, Levin, agreed, "I wanted to have a say with the administrations so that I could communicate the point-of-view and opinions of my friends and other class-
mates. I had lost elections in high school mainly because I didn't campaign, and I didn't want to make that mistake again."
Freshman Finance Officer Joshua Loveall feels that the 574 freshman votes cast mainly came from Krus and Levin's exuberant advertisement. "I was surprised anyone voted -- it was a really obscure process -- I feel like more people knew the election was even going on because of the way they campaigned."
However, President of Student Council Laura Hansell attributed the high voting numbers to a recent trend. "The number of voters has gone up each year pretty consistently. Every since the elections moved away from the Board of Elections students have had more faith in the voting system. The Committee for Student Elections is better trusted by the student body, so voting has increased since its inception."
Additionally, Hansell reflects on the nature of the freshman class as a whole motivating more students to vote. "Freshman year is a great place to be, everything is new. Students are excited to vote and want to be involved in elections."
Krus and Levin used every able avenue to secure their positions. "We wanted to give everyone the opportunity to see us and what were about. We proved that we were taking the position more seriously by the way we campaigned," Krus said. Both approached the spending maximum for campaigning, 300 dollars each.
Candidates said the campaigning process overall was a valuable experience for them. Freshman Legislation Officer Evan Lazerowitz said, "I found that I met a lot of people, as I live in AMR II, and was able to meet a lot of other people very quickly. Also, getting 100 signatures for a petition allows you to meet a lot of people and inform them that you are running for a position."
Lazerowitz concurred with Loveall's view that campaigning made students more aware of the election as a whole. "I think that all the candidates did a good job of campaigning, as evidenced by what Jeremy Batoff said was possibly the highest turnout for this election in their records," he said.
Candidates are allowed five days to campaign prior to the three days of online voting. All the appointed officials expressed the difficulty of campaigning within such a short span of time.
Krus hopes to change the emphasis of elections. "Essentially, the big thing is that the rules are way too specific, then system should be based on a more moral view of what is right and for candidates to do. The rules currently are chaotic and unclear."
Hansell countered that much of the regulations are out of student control. "Most of the rules regarding campaign are University policy and it's complicated, but it's what it is."
Krus also spoke of lowering the spending limits for campaigns. "It should give students the opportunity to learn more about the candidates themselves, rather than just having the opportunity to attract attention."
"Each year new bylaws are born out of problems found in the previous year's election, so that we are constantly updating," Hansell said.
She spoke positively of the group as a whole, saying, "We have a good group of guys. I don't remember a class without girls, but I don't think it means anything for the school in general -- should be interesting though."