In an election with less than one-third the participation of last year, 21 new ASMSU members were voted into MSU's undergraduate student government last week.

Elections were held March 24-25 and about 5 percent of undergraduate students voted. Members will report to their first assembly meetings next week.

"It was a surprisingly low voter turnout," said English junior Tom Cooke, who won a Student Assembly seat with 116 votes. He will represent the College of Arts & Letters.

"I think that's one of the things we need to work on for next year. ASMSU needs to be more vocal," Cooke said.

Nine representatives were elected to the 26-member Academic Assembly and 12 were elected to the 30-member Student Assembly.

Academic Assembly Chairperson Jared English said the number elected was about average.

"We fill the other college seats after the year ends," he said. "The new chair starts with appointments."

Representatives will elect chairs and officers for both assemblies on April 20 and 22 at their general meetings.

Both assemblies also have about a dozen representatives from the Council of Racial Ethnic Students and the Council of Progressive Students, who will be elected by their respective groups by the end of this semester, English said.

None of the ASMSU officials were certain why out of the 2,996 students who logged onto the site who were eligible to vote, only 1,519 people voted on their college's representative.

"RHA did a tax increase, so maybe students in residence halls voted on the tax but not a representative," Student Assembly Chairperson Missy Kushlak said. "More people care about money."

But accounting sophomore Sara Casetta said she didn't have any problems with the site when she voted.

"It was straightforward," she said.

Last year's elections had the highest turnout in the government's history, with about 14 percent of undergraduates participating.

"Last year, there were a lot more controversial issues," Kushlak said. ASMSU had a proposal for a 75-cent tax increase, and more candidates ran for seats. Additionally, the student environmental group Eco had a proposal for a renewable energy tax.

Kushlak also said lobbying work done by Eco helped increase participation.

Staff writer Scott Cendrowski contributed to this report.

For more information on ASMSU and its new representatives, visit asmsu.msu.edu.