This year, the Southern University Student Government Association’s freshman elections experienced a higher voter turnout than previous years. The rise in turnout could possibly be attributed to new voting locations.
Previously, students voted only in the Smith-Brown Memorial Union. This year, Dunn Hall was also a voting site.
This year, 447 freshmen voted in this year’s election, compared to the 317 who voted last year. Students voted for a class president, vice-president, Miss Freshman and class senator. Seniors voted for senior class senators as well.
“I think the new poll locations were a very good idea and I know a few students that did come by thought it was a very good idea, because they didn’t necessarily have to come up by the union,” said Russell Frazier, SGA adviser.
“They were like, ‘We are glad you all came back here because I wasn’t going to the union to vote.’ I guess even if it’s one or two more students, it’s good,” Fraizer said.
“The location was extremely convenient,” said Zakiya Alli, a freshman majoring in mass communications from Crowley. “It was easy access and the process was really quick.”
A new poll site was added mainly to benefit the students.
“Our initiative to get more poll locations was for several different reasons, one was to make it more convenient so that more students would vote,” said Kellee Craig, SGA Chief of Staff.
“I do think that it helped. Of course there are a lot of kinks that you have to work out when you have multiple locations,” Craig said. “I do think that we could have done a better job overall as really increasing the promotion, but I think everybody’s kind of pleased that the numbers were a little bit higher than last year.”
