Elections will begin March 31, and students will have a week to vote for their preferred candidates to represent their college.
College of Social Sciences Representative Evan Schrage said students will be notified of the start of the election via email and can vote using an online system.
He said he hopes to increase involvement of the student body because in the past there has been extremely low participation in elections, with last year’s turnout totaling eight percent.
“I think we all agree ASMSU is a great organization,” Schrage said. “But when (we don’t) involve students as best we can, then we’re failing at our own job.”
Abbie Newton, ASMSU vice president for special projects , said ASMSU has put up flyers around campus and taken to social media to advertise for the town hall meetings.
These meetings are going to be hosted by the individual college representatives and simultaneously occur in different spots around campus, Newton said.
Students will not only get an opportunity to find out the candidates’ platforms, but will also get to ask questions and bring specific issues to the table, she said.
College of Engineering Representative Matt Wesolowski said he has been involved in constituent outreach planning.
He said he wants representatives to be more active to get more students involved with the student government.
“ASMSU has been under-recognized for a lot of their efforts,” Wesolowski said. “Having a more personal interaction with students is definitely going to bring about a positive change.”
Recently elected President Kiran Samra, a marketing junior, is working on putting together an ASMSU mobile app for students to be in-the-know about everything student government is doing.
For students unable to attend the meeting, ASMSU has been trying to increase their social media presence as well as sending email blasts to students to inform them of where to find more information about the election, Newton said.
Information about individual candidates will be available on ASMSU’s website.
Representatives also have the opportunity to take to the streets and talk to students about what ASMSU has to offer, Newton said.
