DSG hoping for higher voter turnout in freshmen elections

With freshman senator elections approaching, Duke Student Government is hoping to increase voter turnout.

In a meeting Wednesday, junior George Mellgard, vice president for residential life, described DSG’s plan to increase freshman turnout for fall elections. The initiative will attempt to increase participation by having DSG members table at Marketplace for the entire voting window and will also include a social media campaign.

“One of the problems DSG has always had is that we expect voters to come to us and the end result is that we have a low turnout,” Mellgard said. “For the first time we get to see if it’s the system of online voting or the fact that we haven’t reached out to voters which is to blame for low turnout.”

Mellgard compared Duke’s voter participation rate to that of other schools such Vanderbilt University, where 60 percent voter participation is considered low. In contrast, only 23 percent of the Duke student body voted in last spring’s elections.

In other business:

SOFC approved two group funding requests—the Pan-Hellenic Council received $5,812 for equipment for a public DevilsGate concert featuring a DJ and Duke Dance Marathon received $1,620.73 for equipment for their marathon event.

In addition, DSG approved an appeal by the Duke International Relations Association to the Financial Oversight and Appeals Committee. A funding request for $8,000 to host previously jailed Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari—who would speak about his experiences—had been turned down by SOFC. After developing a more detailed proposal and raising $2,400 from other groups, DSG voted to approve the remainder of their request.

Duke Global Brigades was reimbursed for $600 which it had spent over the summer for club member training.