The results are in for the Student Association (SA) Senate elections and the number of votes showed a significant decrease in turnout.

A total of 675 votes were counted for the Senate elections. There were 937 votes in the 2011 elections.

Elections Commissioner Chase Zacher said he thinks the reason why the vote count was lower than before is because of apathy and people lacking knowledge of the candidates. He said the SA does not advertise the elections well and he was a little disappointed.

SA Senate Speaker Austin Quick said he thinks fewer candidates were on the ballot this year because of apathy. In 2011, 55 candidates were on the ballot; this year, there were 46 candidates.

Nevertheless, Quick said he is looking forward to the upcoming year.

“I think it’ll be a successful year and we’ll continue to make a positive impact among students,” Quick said.

The Senate fell short of its 40 senator limit with only 29 senators elected. Only the eight senators with the most votes from each of the five districts got elected.

More votes came in for District 4 because more candidates ran for that district than the others, Quick said. Zacher said the candidates who campaigned the most tended to get the most votes. The candidates in District 4 campaigned in teams, he said.

Quick said that posters, signs and word of mouth are important in marketing the Senate elections.

“Word of mouth is the biggest way we market,” Quick said. “People see that it’s something they can get involved in.”

Newly-elected Senator James Zanayed said voter awareness should be worked on for the next election. More advertising and more coverage of the Senate in media like the Northern Star would help raise awareness, he said.

“While campaigning, I talked to a lot of people who didn’t know what the Student Association was, much less that there was an election going on,” he said.

The SA Senate will meet at 6 p.m. Sunday in the Sky Room of the Holmes Student Center.

Editor’s Note: Campus Editor Felix Sarver contributed to this article.