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5 seats filled despite subpar voter turnout
By Lou Christopher
achris25@mscd.edu

The Student Government Assembly held a special election in early December that filled five of the assembly’s seats.

The election drew 447 voters – or about two percent – of the 21,151 students enrolled at Metro during the fall semester. Jason Doyle, chair of the special election’s commission, said the average turnout for a normal general election is 500-600 voters.

The election filled three senate seats, the student representative for the Student Advisory Committee to the Auraria Board seat and the vice president’s seat, which has not had a permanent person in the role since May 2006.

The three new senators are MacKenzie Lintz, Brian Campbell and Jacy Pickens. The student representative for SACAB is Tiffany Pendleton and the new vice president is Ashley Averill. Eight candidates ran for election.

“I thought we did pretty well with under three weeks’ preparation,” Doyle said about the relatively low turnout.

To get the word out, Doyle said the special election commission sent out personal e-mails, left messages on the message boards of MetroConnect, hung flyers around campus and banners at the Tivoli and set up a polling booth at the Auraria Library.

Erica Munguia, an SGA senator, said she thinks the low turnout was due to students not using their MetroConnect accounts and also a general lack of school spirit.

Munguia didn’t use her account until she joinined clubs and got involved on campus.

However, Munguia said she has high hopes for Metro’s future.

“I don’t think people care now, but they will in the future with campus housing,” she said.
With more housing opportunities around the college for younger students and the average age of students becoming lower, the college will change into a more traditional higher learning center, Munguia said.

“I don’t think it is necessarily low school spirit per se, but (students) have more going on with their own lives,” said Jack Wylie, the SGA president.

“Education is number one for Metro students,” he said.

With students not aware of elections or what the SGA does, Wylie said students are reluctant to vote because they don’t see their vote as having an effect.

Wylie is optimistic about future elections.

With one election under their belt, the commission now has the experience to successfully handle the next general election and increase voter turnout, Wylie said. Without the time constraints of a special election, the commission can get started sooner and planning will not be a last-minute thought.

“With one more week, we could have significantly had more votes,” Wylie said.

Kaivon Tolooee, a Metro student, said he didn’t vote in the election because he didn’t know enough about the candidates or the SGA.

“If I knew (the SGA) had an impact, I would vote,” Tolooee said.