Speculation of the voter turnout has marked the first day of the Student Association (SA) Senate elections.

The SA opened the polls Tuesday for students to vote for senators to be in the SA Senate. The Senate is one of the three branches of the SA. The Senate is responsible for recognizing student organizations, appropriating funds collected from student activity fees and reviewing actions made by the executive branch of the SA.

Some of the election judges at the polls reported different voter turnouts. At DuSable Hall, election judge Mary Rehak saw the average of voting students around 1 out of a 100.

“I think the turnout is low,” Rehak said. “I see a lot of people walk by and very few stop to vote. I think people don’t know what’s going on and don’t want to vote unless they know what they’re voting for.”

Deangelo Pierce, sophomore family child studies major, said he personally knew a few of the candidates he was voting for.

At the Holmes Student Center, election judge Alberta Dequin, who has been an election judge for eight years, had a different perspective.

“I think the number of voters have been higher this time than in the past few years,” Dequin said.

Chase Zacher, SA board of elections commissioner, said the vote count for Tueday was 420. The count only included OneCard swipes.

Some student voters had different views on how the Senate works for students.

“I think they make sure that the campus runs smoothly,” Pierce said.

Senior journalism major Jasmine Willett said she sees the Senate as a voice for the student body.

“I’m voting because I want to see a change,” Willett said.