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Wednesday’s voter turnout for the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico senate election broke records.
According to data from ASUNM’s Elections Commission, 1,705 students cast their ballots in this semester’s elections. This is the highest number of voter turnout of any fall-semester election since 2005.
Voter turnout amounted to 1,433 students during the fall 2011 elections. The number dipped during last fall’s elections, when 1,058 students showed up to vote.
ASUNM Elections Commission Executive Director Malika Ladha said the eight-year high was due to the strenuous efforts and the campaign strategies of the 22 candidates who ran for senate seats this semester.
“The candidates that we had in this election were really great,” she said. “It honestly comes down to how hard they work on the day of elections and how hard they work prior to elections … It’s about how long you stay out there from eight in the morning until seven at night. They were there until the last minute.”
Ladha said she also attributes a “very tiny” part of this election cycle’s success to ASUNM agencies’ outreach efforts and social media presence.
ASUNM President Isaac Romero said that because there were two slates and two independent candidates who ran for office, this semester’s campaign became “very competitive, which drives elections and drives votes.”
He also commends the Elections Commission for the high turnout.
Romero said the high turnout reflects UNM students’ increasing involvement with campus affairs.
“It makes me excited because more and more people are getting involved in it,” he said. “More people are learning what to get involved in and how. So, I think it can only go up from here. That’s how I’d like to see it.”
And student involvement is largely beneficial for UNM, Romero said.
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“Student involvement is crucial to the University,” he said.
“Student involvement is what drives me … to represent students because we have our opinions of what we would like to see, but often, we need to hear from students about what they want to see and how we can address their concerns.”
Romero said he expects re-elected incumbents to aid newcomers in the ASUNM senate. He said he also commends the energy of the first-time senators and that he is optimistic that the new senatorial line up will get things done.
Ladha said that although the turnout was not a majority of UNM students, she is glad about it.
“Is the election turnout where we want it to be? No,” she said. “Are we in the right direction? Of course … I think it’s not where we want it to be, but can we do better in the spring? Of course we can.”
And she said she is optimistic that student voter turnout would increase in subsequent election cycles. She said her commission will especially work on increasing turnout for the spring’s ASUNM presidential elections.
“We’re going to do better than that,” she said. “We’re going to crush this. We’re going to get everyone riled up.”
