Turnout in the new student elections was roughly 47 percent as of 10 p.m. Thursday, according to the Nominations and Elections Committee Vice Chairman for Elections and College junior Ben Kruger.
“We are above past trends and are on pace to safely eclipse our goal,” Kruger wrote in an e-mail Wednesday evening. The committee’s goal for this year is 50 percent participation. A reported 49 percent voted in last year’s new student elections.
“All of the races are very tight,” Kruger told candidates in an e-mail Wednesday, encouraging them to keep getting out the vote.
The last-minute vote has not been ignored — among others, Wharton freshman and Undergraduate Assembly candidate Nigel Lam brought his laptop to 1920 Commons last night to remind freshmen to vote if they hadn’t already.
To test a new tactic, NEC Vice Chairman for Publicity Jeremy Brinster, a College sophomore, posted a humorously dramatic video encouraging freshmen to vote that has over 500 hits on YouTube so far.
“It was pretty cool and it reminded me to vote,” College freshman Megan FitzGerald said.
College freshman Ali Schwartz said that she found the video on Under the Button, and that it also reminded her to vote. “It was really intense,” she said.
“It was very daunting — I felt like if I wouldn’t vote, someone would cut my head off,” UA Vice President and College senior Mark Pan said.
The high voter turnout can also be attributed to last Sunday’s Midnight Breakfast, which Kruger called “a smashing success.”
Students have noticed graffiti on at least one campaign poster on campus. When asked to comment, Kruger said that the NEC decides as a body whether a violation has taken place, and that any possible violations would be announced this evening.
The voting period ends Friday at 5 p.m., with results being announced later in the evening if no violations have been filed.
