City hopes MSU alums will boost election turnout

---

Tweet

MSU students typically have approached off-year elections with a collective shrug of their shoulders, and city officials don’t expect a large change in the Nov. 3 elections a week from today.

An off-year election refers to elections in odd-numbered years and is characterized by a majority of municipal and city-level candidates.

MSU’s precincts — Shaw, Akers, Brody and Wilson halls — reported voter turnouts of zero percent in 2007 and less than 10 percent in 2005, East Lansing City Clerk Nicole Evans said. The percentages for the general populace were 2 percent and 15 percent, respectively.

Evans said the percentages for 2009 are not expected to change drastically.

“I don’t expect a very high turnout,” she said. “(Student numbers) are typically low for local elections.”

The Nov. 3 general election features candidates for the East Lansing City Council, Lansing Community College Board of Trustees, East Lansing Public School District Board of Education and Lansing School District Board of Education.

Evans said the addition of MSU professor Phil Bellfy to the East Lansing City Council race, coupled with a 65 percent student-voter turnout in the 2008 election, might increase local numbers.

“Hopefully, we’ll have some more students at the polls,” Evans said. “And maybe because one of the candidates is a MSU professor, things will change.”

John Dowell, Youvote co-founder and MSU adviser, said it was not likely an MSU candidate would make any difference. However, he said the lingering feelings from the 2008 election could improve poll numbers.

“I think there is still — to borrow from Stephen Colbert — an ‘Obama Bump,’” Dowell said. “(There is) a glow — however faded it might be — that could be rekindled.

“A bunch of people will vote because of that glow … but there are always going to be participation slackers who you couldn’t get to the polls if you paid them.”

Dowell cited two MSU alums — former East Lansing Mayor Sam Singh and current Councilmember Nathan Triplett — as examples of university influence on local politics.

“MSU folks who move on to local politics have made resoundingly positive differences in the local political and social scenes,” he said.

The city has added a new absentee ballot tracking system this year, Evans said. Upon registering for an absentee ballot, voters will be able to log in to the city of East Lansing’s Web site, www.cityofeastlansing.com, and find out when the City Clerk’s office has received their completed ballot. Information will be updated every two days, she said.

“We’ve received a lot of phone calls in the past about the status of (absentee) ballots,” she said. “This system will be very helpful to us … when the gubernatorial election happens.”

Voters have until 2 p.m. Saturday to request an absentee ballot by mail. The deadline for in-person ballot requests is 4 p.m. Monday.

Despite low voter turnout in past years, some MSU students, such as English sophomore James Lovallo, said students should take their turn in the voting booth.

“I have voted locally before in my hometown of (Saint Clair, Mich.),” Lovallo said. “But I’ve never voted on any (East Lansing) issues except for what was on the ballot in November, 2008.”

Lovallo, who is registered to vote in East Lansing, said students should vote in local elections to ensure community leaders are making the correct decisions. However, Lovallo said he does not intend to vote in the upcoming election because he is not familiar with the issues.

---