On election day, SGB seeks voters

‘ ‘ ‘ Student government board candidates stood in the cold yesterday passing out yellow and… ‘ ‘ ‘ Student government board candidates stood in the cold yesterday passing out yellow and blue fliers with platforms and puzzles to remind students to vote, a problem that plagued last year’s SGB election. ‘ ‘ ‘ Last year, SGB voting numbers slumped, with Sumter Link receiving 1,794 votes in a one-on-one race for the presidency, the highest total number of votes for any candidate ‘mdash; including board members ‘mdash; in the election. ‘ ‘ ‘ Elections committee chair Patrick Moroney said with roughly 17,000 undergraduate students on Pitt’s campus, last year’s numbers were disappointing. This year, the elections committee has tried to ‘focus programming a bit more’ with events like ‘Dinner with the Candidates’ in Market Central and the SGB presidential debate, both geared toward encouraging voter turnout. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Before, we used to hand out food like Five Guys and have students meet the candidates in Towers Lobby,’ he said. ‘But what we found is that most students would just pick a burger and run. This year we had dinner in Market Central so students would actually talk to the candidates about issues.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Moroney also said the elections committee created a new Facebook group to remind people to vote. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘The Facebook group will be heavily promoted in the last 24 hours before the election, just to make students even more aware that there is an important election today and that they should vote,’ he said. ‘ ‘ ‘ Pitt also decided to award Outside the Classroom Curriculum credit to students for voting in the election, a tactic that One Passion One Pride Board Candidate Alexa Jennings hopes will encourage people to vote. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘It’ll definitely be interesting to see how that aspect enhances the voting numbers,’ she said. ‘That credit, along with the number of candidates, should definitely boost the numbers of people voting.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ But Kevin Morrison, the presidential candidate for One Vision One Voice, disagreed and said if the credit caused a few more people to vote, it would be for the wrong reasons. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘I think the voter turnout will be worse this year,’ he said. ‘I think the credit will cause people to just vote and not vote based on the candidate’s issues. They’ll click on the first names they see instead of focusing on the issues. That, along with the shorter amount of time allowed for the paper campaign, could cause problems with turnout. It’s definitely going to be a big wildcard.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘But there’s been a lot of exposure in the news lately, for those students that don’t know anything about SGB or about us,’ he said. ‘So, hopefully, I’m wrong.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Moroney said the elections committee could only promote the election to a certain degree, especially since they were ‘bogged down by drama’ with complaints. But he said, ‘People vote based on personal interaction,’ not reminders through the internet, and the candidates have to make the most effort. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘The burden should really fall on the candidates. I’m not saying that the candidates didn’t try hard enough. Many of them gave up their semesters for this, and they’ve done a great job,’ said Moroney. ‘But some people are reluctant to campaign the old-fashioned way. Go to Hemingway’s, or a big party, or the Cathedral or the Hillman. People want to meet whoever’s running, and that is the responsibility of the candidates. If they want people to vote, they should go meet people.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Max Greenwald and Andrew Freeman, candidates for board, agreed. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘We’re the ones running, and that’s why we’re out here in the cold,’ said Greenwald. ‘We’ve seen a good amount of people today, and we wanted to reach out and remind them to vote. We know they’re busy and late to class, but we wanted to get the word out still.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘People have been pretty receptive overall,’ added Freeman. ‘Hopefully people will be willing to take the time out of their schedules to vote.’