EMPORIA — For the last five election cycles, Associated Student Government presidential and vice presidential candidates have won by default.
“With any low turnout election, that can suppress interest,” said Michael Smith, professor of social sciences, sociology and criminology. “If we’re talking about a race for Congress or something like that, people might think, ‘Well, I really don’t need to bother voting because we already know who’s gonna win.’ With ASG, that could be an issue, but I think the bigger issue is you don’t have competitive races to stimulate an interest in talking about ASG.”
In 2017, candidates Megan McReynolds and Jacob Miller were the last president and vice-president to face opposition.
Just last week, the 2022-2023 ASG elections were held. Bella Price, junior history and education major, and Hailey Kisner, senior psychology major, were elected next year’s president and vice-president.
“You don’t have the opportunity to debate one another,” Kisner said. “That was something Bella and I were both looking forward to.”
In 2018, former ASG president and vice-president Michael Webb and Michaela Todd, started their campaign with opponents, though they dropped out of the race prior to the presidential debate. They were also the last candidates to hold a debate, though it was more of a public forum with a moderator.
“Activities like debates, public forums and so forth,” Smith said. “Now an unopposed candidate could go ahead and do it anyway, but it still may not generate the level of excitement where students feel engaged in the process.”
Despite the lack of engagement, Smith said it’s a good thing people aren’t running lightheartedly.
“(Being president and vice-president) is a huge responsibility,” Smith said. “I do think it is a good thing that people aren’t just sort of frivolously running for ASG president without having really thought about what they’re getting into, because it’s such a big commitment.”
For many, running for ASG, even just as a senator, can be quite intimidating, said Lauren Moon, current ASG vice-president and junior biology secondary education major. Moon, who has been a part of ASG since her freshman year, said that even she felt quite scared applying to be a senator.
“I would say first, (being on ASG) is definitely worth the go of overcoming that fear,” Moon said. “I know as a freshmen, even though I didn’t have to go through the election process coming into Emporia State, I was still really nervous to meet Victoria (Goetzinger) and Paul (Frost), cause I came in for my appointment interview and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is crazy.’ But it was exciting for me. It’s kind of a matter of changing your mindset to being excited to be involved and really, actually for real, making a huge difference at Emporia State. I don’t think students realize how integral our senators are.”
As technology advances, and more programs are being added online, Smith said it’s crucial to be engaging students of all kinds, even the ones not on campus.
“I would love to see somebody run for ASG on a platform of, ‘How can we make ASG relevant to the whole student body?’ Not forgetting the traditional students, but being mindful that there are a lot of people in our student body today that don’t fit that profile,” Smith said.
Though they ran unopposed, presidential candidate Price and vice-presidential candidate Kisner ran their campaign as if they were running against another pair. Through running polls, talking with constituents and interacting with students on Twitter, Price and Kisner have found that one of the current problems ASG is facing is with their engagement.
“I think a lot of (the lack in engagement) does have to do with the pandemic,” Price said. “But I also think there’s a good portion of it where ASG just hasn’t been able for a while to expand and reach out to the students and when they do it’s hard, students are busy too.”
Kisner talked about how ASG engagement is related to a few things — Like how students don’t know where the ASG office or senate chamber are; They hope to improve their Social Media presence to reach more students; and lastly, they hope to host a coffee chat outside to Center for Student Involvement.
“I think just kind of going out of the box and catering to what our students indicate as important methods of communication,” Kisner said. “Really reaching out to those and then just being present around campus when possible.”
