Even though enrollment at COD is increasing, turnout for student elections is not.

While the College of DuPage has almost 30,000 students, just a little more than 1 percent of the student population voted in the March 17 and 18 Student Leadership Council elections.  338 students voted in last week’s elections, compared to 461 votes counted in last year’s election. The number of votes coincide with the student life office’s efforts to make voting easier via ChapLife, a student online portal.

ChapLife was only released to students a week before the elections through a link sent through student email accounts.

Stephanie Quirk, the coordinator of student life, said in terms of technology, this year’s elections were one of the smoothest.

“Students have to understand that we think very hard and carefully about decisions, and there are reasons why we make them,” Quirk said. “There were a lot of reasons why [ChapLife] was superior.”

Rachel Musselwhite, a second-year criminal justice major and former president of COD’s Pride Alliance, said the new system for the student election hurt the turnout.

“I think it added an additional barrier to voting,” Musselwhite said. “People didn’t have a chance to get familiar with it before the vote.”

Quirk explained the lack of involvement was a “symptom of a bigger problem amongst students.”

“It is a question that comes up pretty consistently every year,” Quirk said. “Initially I was not really surprised because I know where we rank in student interest.”

The three candidates who won the elections were happy to win but disappointed to see that so few students had taken the initiative to vote.

Miguel Hernandez, who was elected vice president, felt students were doing themselves a disservice

“We are the people that are going to be representing them,” Hernandez said. “If they are not taking the initiative and voting, then their opinion is not going to be accurately represented.”

Musselwhite, however, feels the low voter turnout is bigger than the lack of representation of student opinions.

“I feel frustrated about it, considering we have a school of about 30,000 students.” Musselwhite said. “When less than 400 people vote, it is an embarrassment to the college.”

Joe Stahl, who was elected president, did not see the low turnout as an embarrassment but rather a call to action.

“I don’t necessarily look at this position as an honor but rather a responsibility,” Stahl said.

Musselwhite, who is graduating, hopes Stahl and the other elected student leaders will be able to engage the students at the school she cares about so much.

“COD is like a home to me,” Musselwhite said. “I met a lot of great people and got involved in a lot of great things. I want there to be more opportunities for students to engage so they can get as much out of [COD] as I did.”