The extremely low voter turnout for the District 5 County Board race last Tuesday raised questions about the awareness and participation of UW-Madison students in county politics.
Of approximately 10,000 district members, only 500 voted in the elections. However, with four student candidates and large campaigning efforts, the candidates expected a much larger turnout at the polls.
'I was surprised. It seemed like there was a lot of energy in the campaigning,' candidate and UW-Madison student Sean Cornelius said.
Of the four candidates'Ashok Kumar, David Lapidus, Sean Cornelius and Adam Korn'the victor Kumar received over half of the votes, with a grand total of 319.
'In a given district, ?? you could expect 1,500 people to turn out; this time we got five or six hundred total,' Cornelius said.
County Board supervisor Mike Hanson said the reason is largely an issue of awareness, and that students are tied up primarily with university studies and activities.
'This week is one where a lot of students had midterms,' said David Lapidus, UW-Madison freshman and County Board candidate. 'I think it's a matter of priorities.'
Communicating the importance of the County Board position to the student community was also a prominent problem. Many students failed to realize the direct influence that the County Board has on their lives.
'[County Board] is primarily concerned with human services programs for the county. The next largest thing is public services,' Dane County Supervisor Robert Fryst said. For example, the County Board deals with the Alliant Energy Center, the Dane County Airport and the Vilas Zoo.
Fryst further stated the turnout was low countywide, and that 27 of the 37 County Board seats were uncontested.
The fliers, pamphlets and campaigning failed to create a clear picture of the role or effectiveness of a County Board member, students said. 'County Board sounds like a very powerless position; the candidates blew their claims out of proportion, and it's hard for students to relate to that,' UW-Madison sophomore Peter Huettner said.
Similar student concerns included that the election does not take into account the often-hectic student schedule.
'Students are so tied up with studies and activities; their activities are usually university related,' Hanson said.
Many voters believed that County Board members who are students have a lack of influence. 'It's easy for a student politician to get overlooked by the other 36 members of the board,' Cornelius said.
