Page 2/Tuesday, March 29,1988/Voters’ Guide
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Candidates optimistic despite
A&M’s history of low turnout
By Drew Leder
Staff Writer
Candidates for the over 100
Student Government positions
to be filled in Wednesday’s gen
eral election have been franti
cally trying to get their messages
out to students, but if past-vot
ing trends accurately reflect stu
dent interest, few are listening.
With enrollment at more than
34,000 last spring, only 5,047
students cast votes in the general
election, and some Student Gov
ernment insiders say there won’t
be a significant change in voter
turnout March 30.
Election Commissioner Bryan
Tutt said the turnout Wednes
day should be the same as in past
elections, with about 5,000 votes
cast, but, he said, it’s hard to
guage student-voter interest be
fore an election so there’s always
the possibility that a larger than
usual number of students will
head to the polls.
Jay Hays, speaker of the Stu
dent Senate, contends that voter
turnout at this election will not
follow the pattern of past elec
tions. Hays, one of the two can
didates for Student Body Presi
dent, said the effect of only two
candidates for the highest
elected, student position will be
either a rise or drop in the voter
turnout. He says it can go either
way.
Student Body President Ma
son Hogan says the vast majority
of the 36,448 students enrolled
at Texas A&M this spring aren’t
concerned enough about Stu
dent Government to make a spe
cial trip out to the polls. Hogan
estimates that one-fourth of
A&M’s students know some
thing about what is going on in
Student Government and the is
sues it is concerned with, while,
he says, only one-eigth really
care about what is happening in
Student Government.
Lack of participation in elec
tions and the day-to-day activ
ities of Student Government
doesn’t necessarily mean A&M
student’s are oblivious to their
elected representatives, Hogan
said.
“A lot of them are in majors so
that they can’t afford to do any
thing else (but study), or they
may not be interested in doing it
themselves, but I think they ap
preciate that they have a place to
go if they have a problem,” he
said.
Hays said students’ apparent
disinterest in Student Govern
ment is the result of a failure to
communicate. He said many
members of the Student Gov
ernment think the general stu
dent population doesn’t care
about what they are doing, while
the same is true on the other
side.
“Our communication network
has broken down,” Hays said.
“We don’t hear from students,
and they don’t hear from us.”
Many students agree with
Hays that the voice of the Stu
dent Government goes largely
unheard.
Adrian Angove-Rogers, a
graduate student, said he is un
aware of any significant actions
of the Student Government hav
ing occurred during the five
years he has been at A&M.
While this is partly the result of a
communication problem, he
said, there is little to commu
nicate about.
“Whenever they try to get
something done it fails because
they can’t enforce anything,”
Angove-Rogers said. “They’re a
government for the people, by
the people, but whatever they
decide, they can’t implement it.”
Jeff Pollard, a staff writer for
The Battalion who covers Stu
dent Government activities, said
many reasons account for stu
dents’ disinterest in their elected
government.
“It’s everything from sympa
thy to apathy,” Pollard said.
“People sympathetic because the
government can’t get things
done to people who think they
don’t do anything.”
While many students don’t
seem to be too concerned with
the activities of their elected gov
ernment, Hogan says they
should be.
“There should be a general
concern,” he said. “Things that
go on at this campus are going to
affect everybody in one way or
another and they are going to af
fect the future of Texas A&M.”
Polling
places
Students with a current
Texas A&M I.D. can cast
their ballots Wednesday
betweem 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
at the following locations:
Memorial Student
Center, main lobby
Sbisa Dining Hall,
outside near the Fish
Pond, weather permitting.
(Voting will be in the A-1
lounge in the event of rain.)
Kleberg Animal and
Food Sciences Center,
student lounge
Sterling C. Evans
Library, in front of the
library. This polling place
will be open from 9 a.m. to
9 p.m.