Student vote turnout reaches thousands at RUSA election
A record number of students voted in the Rutgers University Student Assembly elections Tuesday, providing a new future for student government at the University.
The voter turnout for the RUSA elections this year is nearly 2,200, which equals around 10 percent of the student body.
RUSA Elections Committee Chair Ben West said he is amazed by the turnout, but it did not come without strong efforts by everyone involved.
"It took a lot of hard work to make the RUSA elections so successful," said West, a Rutgers College senior. "I think all of our efforts and really strong campaigning of each of the candidates led to the highest turn out of any RUSA elections."
He said it took long days and nights to make sure the voter turnout was successful, including tabling throughout Election Day.
"On [Livingston campus] alone, in the course of three or four hours we were able to get 80 additional voters at the Livingston Student Center," he said.
West also said some of the votes came from students studying abroad, which exemplifies the outreach they were trying to accomplish through the week of campaigning.
"I saw that we were getting voters from China, Japan, France and Italy," he said. "So, I think we were really able to create a buzz about this in the Rutgers community for people who aren't even here right now."
RUSA Chair Werner Born said the voter turnout showed how RUSA needed the input of the University student body.
"Certainly, to get over 2,000 votes is awesome and to just be able to have a direct election is a great step for RUSA in general," said Born, a School of Engineering senior. "One of the first steps was to increase the amount of people that come out to vote and we definitely did that."
He said despite only having a short timeframe to obtain votes from the students, the turnout shows that external elections work for student government.
"We only had a 24-hour voting period, but I think having a direct election is largely the reason we saw such a huge increase with people voting," he said. "I think it is going to be a trend that continues."
Yousef Saleh, the new president as of last night and previous vice chair of RUSA, said it was by far the largest election RUSA ever had. But he wishes more voters could have come out to support his candidacy.
"Events that happened throughout the week didn't allow me to promote myself as much as I wanted to, but I am glad we were able to get a large portion of the student body," said Saleh, a School of Arts and Sciences junior. "I hope that next year's RUSA election is even more competitive than this one."
John Aspray, who lost in his run for president on the Rutgers United ticket, agreed with Saleh that the voter turnout could have been larger.
"It was almost 10 percent, but I think we can do better," said Aspray, a School of Arts and Sciences junior. "It is a good start though."
He also said the voter turnout was in part because of the external elections but also a result of the hard work that his Rutgers United ticket put into the campaign.
"We called people reminding them to vote and we followed through with it," he said. "We ran it like a serious election."
Although the external elections proved to be successful in voter turnout, the end results did not turn out well for two of the RUSA candidates.
West said School of Environmental and Biological Sciences sophomore Sam Firmin and School of Engineering sophomore Ross Kleiman, who ran on the same ticket, were expelled from the election after the Appeals Committee concluded yesterday they broke certain election guidelines.
Aspray said there are three rules a candidate cannot break, and both Firmin and Kleiman broke two of these rules.
"Ross Kleiman was expelled for asking for votes in his dorm on Election Day and thought he wouldn't get caught for it. He knowingly and deliberately broke the rules," he said. "I wish that wouldn't have been the case, but that's what he did."
Firmin also broke a rule stating no candidate could go into dormitories and post flyers, Aspray said.
West said although the two candidates lost in the election, they still could have been part of RUSA if they did not break the rules.
"It's just that if they hadn't broken the rules, they would have at least had an ex-officio position," West said. "They made the decision to break some rules and with those kind of decisions, there comes consequences that you have to live with."
RUSA Appeals Committee Co-Chair Josh Slavin said it was a tough decision, but they ultimately had to expel both Firmin and Kleiman for their actions.
"We weren't happy to do it but because of multiple infractions, the Appeals Committee had to remove them from the elections," said Slavin, a Livingston College senior. "But we still want them to be a part of student government and come back as soon as they can. It's a learning experience."
