In a way, it was as though ASMSU was bribing students to log on and vote. But if votes were what representatives wanted, that’s what they got.

The student government was just short of its goal of 10 percent turnout, raking in 9.4 percent of eligible undergraduate voters. It might not sound like anything to be excited about, but the 9.4 percent was more than triple last year’s 2.8 percent.

This year proved to be substantially more successful in terms of voter turnout than last year for student government, and hopefully that trend will continue.

A jump like that is something ASMSU should be proud of, and now it has a goal to work with for future elections. The prizes offered to the student body obviously struck a chord, and the representatives would be smart to continue that trend in the future.

The only problem with “bribing” students to vote in the election is people might be taking part in the election for the wrong reasons. Some students likely just logged on, picked random names and entered in the prize raffle. But that issue probably didn’t make too much of an influence, given most candidates on the ballot were elected.

Better voter turnout, no matter what the reason, means more students are taking an active part in the way they are represented on campus.

Although the voter turnout is encouraging, the number of vacant seats that still remain are concerning.

Out of the 15 colleges participating in the ASMSU election, including no-preference, more than half have at least one vacant seat. College of Communication Arts and Sciences, College of Nursing, College of Veterinary Medicine, College of Music, Residential College in the Arts and Humanities and no-preference all had no representatives elected.

There seems to be a trend with the colleges whose seats are filled and those who aren’t. The colleges that lean toward more politically-oriented majors, such as James Madison College and College of Business, have their seats completely filled.

It might just be a coincidence, but it’s worth pointing out that colleges with similar majors generally can expect similar types of people with similar views. Well-rounded perspectives from a group of students with different majors better offer a clearer representation of the student body, which is why ASMSU likely would benefit from having at least one person from every college be a representative. That could be something ASMSU could focus on more for next year’s election.

But ASMSU should focus on one goal at a time, using it as an expression of student support to go out and work hard to represent the undergraduate student body.

Despite some lack of willingness to run for elections, the increased voter turnout still is something ASMSU should be proud of and work off of in the future.