By Sara Berry

Student participation in student government elections declined by more than 30 percent from last year, according to SGA elections committee chairman Drew Blythe. A total of 556 students voted in this year’s election, down from the nearly 800 that voted in 2010.

Blythe said the number of students participating was around what is expected of elections held online. He also acknowledged that Eric Bergenn’s unopposed run could be a factor in the decline of votes cast.

“I think this was a great turnout considering the president position ran uncontested,” said Blythe. “Last year…we had two big name candidates running for president [in Alex] Rodriguez and [Matt] Vekakis, who both ran thoroughly planned out campaigns.”

Last year the race for president was extraordinarily close with Vekakis winning by a mere 11 votes.

“This is less than usual,” said SGA president-elect Eric Bergenn, “but there usually isn’t an unopposed presidential candidate. This isn’t a great turn-out, but it isn’t necessarily that bad considering the unopposed presidential ballot.”

Bergenn said that it is always important to have as many people vote in SGA elections as possible so that students feel like they are being represented in student government.

Students who did not vote had a variety of reasons, most relating to lack of interest.

“I just wasn’t interested, and don’t care for politics. It comes across as a popularity contest,” said junior Dannel Petgrave.

Senior Raven Cohen said she didn’t vote because she is leaving the university in May.

“I didn’t vote because I’m graduating this semester, so I didn’t really feel like it affected me,” Cohen said.

Blythe said that the elections committee and the Student Activities Leadership Development department decided to hold the elections completely online due to last year’s successful implementation of Internet voting. Students had the opportunity to vote at one of two computers set up in the student center, provided by the SGA specifically for voting in the elections.

“[We wanted] to reach as many [students] as possible because [they] were walking by in between classes and we wanted to get people,” Blythe said. “Most of the voting did happen online at home or in dorms, not at the tables. I think it’s just more convenient for people to do it at home in their own time so they can look over the candidates.”

Blythe said that the computers were not staffed by SGA senators at all times due to scheduling conflicts, leaving about four hours when in-person voting was left unattended.

The newly elected SGA officers will be sworn in on May 4 at the final meeting of the 2010-11 school year.