Voter turnout for the Student Association Senate elections in late September was low.

Factors such as low turnout for eligible voters and lack of communication between candidates and voters is what is being blamed, said SA president Kevin Miller.

“The candidates were definitely out there this year,” Miller said. “For next year, though, we are going to see if the senate can try and get the word out a little bit more.”

However, over the past several years, voter turnout has been on a steady decline. Last year, the senate elections had about 800 voters, while this year it dropped to 682 for the two-day period.

“We certainly wish that students would come out and vote because the senate plays a very important role,” Miller said.

Several students were unaware an election took place.

“I didn’t even know they were going on,” said Leslie Vanderford, a junior computer science major. “The only election I’ve even heard about has been the Homecoming elections.”

The elections for Homecoming king and queen garnered 514 votes last week.

John Geils, a sophomore computer science major, also was unaware of the SA elections.

“The only thing I heard about was the Homecoming thing, that’s it,” he said.

Some students were aware of the elections but chose not to vote because they thought there would be a lack of impact.

“I didn’t want to vote for somebody when all I know about them is what I see on a little piece of paper,” senior business major Judith Dawson said. “They should have had a public debate or something, so then I could know what they were actually going to do if they got that position.”

However, some students, like junior special education major Hollie Maxey, were aware of the elections and did vote.

“I voted because I care about who is representing me,” she said. “If I didn’t vote, that would be like me saying I don’t care about my school and how it is being run. For those who don’t vote, they have no reason to complain because they didn’t do anything about it.”