Low Interest in UNC Student Government
A surprisingly empty day at the Old Well. Photo by Martin Kraft.
Turnout and interest in undergraduate student government elections at UNC have not been particularly high in recent years. In 2023, the percentage of eligible voters who voted was 14 percent. It was also 14 percent in 2022. This year it was roughly half that, at 7.22 percent for the undergraduates and 3.64 percent for the graduates. To put this in context, Chapel Hill got 26 percent turnout in local elections last year, while all municipal elections across the state on the same day saw an overall turnout of 16 percent.
It’s not just low turnout for the student government races this year. Out of the 45 seats in the Undergraduate Senate allocated to different districts, 6 are vacant, meaning that 87 percent of seats there are filled. On the side of the Senate allocated to the electoral committees, the 16 members of the Progressive Possibilities slate were the only competitors for 22 seats. In total, only 82 percent of the seats in the Undergraduate Senate have been filled by people, leaving 12 vacancies.
Furthermore, many of the races were not competitive. Only 2 districts, Districts 1 and 4, had more candidates on the final list put out by the Board of Elections than there were slots for them in the Senate. The race for Student Body President was competitive, as Jaleah Taylor defeated Laura Saavedra Forero. However, that only came about after a dispute over whether Saavedra Forero had sufficient signatures to appear on the ballot. The races for president of the Carolina Athletic Association and Resident Hall Association presidents were also uncompetitive, although there were three declared candidates among the tickets for Rising Senior Class President and Vice President.
The clearest indication of a lack of interest in student government came in District 3 of the Undergraduate Senate, where sophomore Advertising and Public Relations major Avery Barber was the only candidate for the four seats up for election during this cycle. Unsurprisingly, she won.
“[Campaigning] was a little nerve-wracking at first, just because I’ve never done something like that,” Barber says. “But I think it went pretty well. Basically, you just have to get some votes to make sure you can get voted in and it’s about 25 votes, but it has to be from your district in order to run on the ballot.”
Barber says that, at first, she was nervous that she would be unable to get sufficient signatures to appear on the ballot. However, after one of her media and journalism classes, she asked people to support her, leading her to get enough signatures. Encouragement from another member of her sorority who had previously served in the Undergraduate Senate also motivated her to run.
There are some benefits to the lack of candidates. Very few people who wanted to take on a position in student government have been turned away. But this also comes with some downsides. If a candidate for a race is running unopposed, there’s no way for voters to indicate their opposition to them. Some regions of majors, such as District 3, end up being underrepresented.
“I’m worried that I might be overshadowed, but I really hope that some people will still reach out to me and I can represent everyone in District 3,” Barber says. “I think it’s made up of six or seven majors, and I’m just one of those majors. So it would have been great to meet someone in a different department, but, at the end of the day, I can always reach out to people and do my best.”