Voting in the Associated Students of Madison fall elections kicks off today at 8 a.m., with 17 aspiring freshman politicos vying for four freshman Student Council seats, and three candidates hoping to fill two seats on the Student Services Finance Committee.

Prior to the event, candidates attended an ice cream social and voters' meet-and-greet in Chadbourne Residential College Monday night. The event was heavily promoted on Facebook, with an actual turnout of about 50, according to Polly Pfeiffer of the ASM Student Election Commission.

The freshman candidates ran the gamut in personality and goals, but most had some experience with high school student government and wished to do something on campus with potentially substantive impact.

"I really wanted to be involved in Madison on the whole and help students," said Julie Chou, a candidate for Student Council. "I did student government in high school and it was fun and productive, but it was a popularity contest. With freshmen here, we're all on the same page."

Other candidates shared similar views. Most were confident and had high hopes going into the election.

"I don't know much about the rest of the field. Overall, I feel pretty good and confident," said Conor O'Hagan, another Student Council aspirant. "I'm a natural-born leader, with a real passion for this stuff."

The current vote follows a string of less-than-successful elections for ASM, including two controversial referendums in 2006, which were plagued by technical problems with the online voting system and low turnout.

ASM hopes for a higher turnout this year with a return to online balloting, under a new system developed by the UW Survey Center.

"The system is safe, and we've done a lot of work on it," Pfeiffer said.

Any ASM member — which, by definition, is any current University of Wisconsin student — may vote in the SSFC race, but only freshmen may cast votes on the SC seats. "It really is hard for ASM to get the word out, but they've done a good job," Chou said.

However, many people are much less aware of the elections in progress.

"I'm pretty apathetic. All the candidates seem to be wannabe Bonapartes," UW freshman Tyler Jorgensen said. "Seriously, where do I even vote?"

Jorgensen's sentiments seem to be shared across much of the student body.

When asked why students seem so blase when it comes to the elections, Pfeiffer responded, "I don't know if students do care, but I'd like to think that they do. This is their opportunity to voice how they want their segregated fees spent, how they want the ASM run."

Freshman candidate Guthrie Weinschenk had a different take on his fellow student's apathy.

"If people feel like they're making a difference they will go out and vote," Weinschenk said. "They're not seeing things the ASM is doing, and I don't know how that can be easily changed, but let's see what happens this year. Legitimacy by results."

Voting runs until 8 p.m. Thursday, including online at asm.wisc.edu.