“That is close to double what it has been in past years,” ASMSU Associate Director Kara Spencer said during Student Assembly’s Thursday meeting. “It has been anywhere from 6 to 8 percent.”

Spencer said the percentage was based on initial fall enrollment of 36,400. The number of actual voters was 4,823.

In last year’s elections, 7 percent, or 2,611, undergraduate students voted in the spring elections. Organization officials offered two reasons for the increased turnout: exposure and ASMSU’s Readership Program tax referendum.

ASMSU spokesperson Portia McKenzie said increased exposure in the media, as well as readily available biographies on the organization’s Web site, added an extra dimension to the election process.

“Letting people know the reps they were voting for and putting a personality with the names really allowed people to care,” McKenzie said.

McKenzie said the tax referendum — which passed 633-193-11 — was another reason students came out to vote. The referendum increased the ASMSU tax by $1.25 and established a permanent Readership Program at MSU. It provides free copies of The New York Times, USA Today and the Detroit Free Press campuswide to students with a valid student ID.

Awareness of the organization’s services has been a key concern throughout the year, Student Assembly Chairperson Kyle Dysarz said. Dysarz said the increasing rate with which students were using blue books, short-term loans and faxes indicated students would show a greater interest in this year’s elections.

Academic Assembly Chairperson Kristy Currier said although advertisements from USA Today and e-mails announcing the elections were helpful in raising awareness in the student body, student representatives might have had the largest impact.

“I actually heard people talking about people who were running for representative this year,” Currier said.

Even with the higher turnout, a few representatives still were not elected due to ASMSU provisions that require a minimum of 25 votes to be cast for a representative to be elected.

Mathematics junior Mario DiNicola said although he ran uncontested for a spot as Academic Assembly’s Lyman Briggs College representative, he can’t officially participate in meetings because he did not receive the required 25-vote minimum. However, DiNicola said representatives in his position can be appointed after a review process.

“Part of the reason I wanted to do the whole ASMSU thing was because I felt there wasn’t enough interest in the Lyman Briggs’ circle,” DiNicola said.