Spring elections for the University of Wisconsin Associated Students of Madison Student Council and Student Services Finances Committee are live. The election period will end Wednesday, March 13 at 5 p.m., according to the ASM website.
Student Council has 33 representatives, all of whom are responsible for the development of campus policies concerning student-related issues. The representatives for the Student Council exercise legislative and shared governance powers, outlined in Wisconsin State Statue 36.09(5), when advocating and recommending policy changes to better student life on campus, according to ASM.
Students vote for their student council representative depending on the school or college they are in. For example, a student in the School of Business will vote for student representatives running in that school, according to ASM.
SSFC, the other ASM committee students can vote for in this election, is comprised of UW students who make recommendations on how to allocate $50 million in segregated fees to student organizations. Further, SSFC directs funding to RSOs with non-academic educational components, according to ASM. Therefore, SSFC representatives aid in decisions regarding funding for different student organizations, according to ASM.
Every UW student may vote for SSFC representatives, it is not limited to specific schools or colleges, according to ASM.
ASM election commissioner Ambika Muralitharan said representatives for Student Council and SSFC bring awareness to issues raised by the student body.
“The Student Council and SSFC is a way for students to express grievances through their peers and it’s way more accessible than maybe a university admin would be,” Muralitharan said.
Muralitharan said many students express disproval of how funds should be allocated, therefore elections serve as a way for students to choose representatives they believe will best serve them in ASM.
Students can find out more about candidates up for election and vote for candidates through ASM’s candidate matrix, Muralitharan said. Students can access the candidate matrix through a link sent to their school emails from the ASM election commission, Muralitharan said. Otherwise, the link is available on ASM website.
Voter turnout declined three percent between the 2022 and 2023 spring elections, according to ASM spring 2022 and 2023 final election results. In the Spring 2023 election, total voter turnout was 1,503 completed ballots while total enrollment was 47,830, according to election results.
Due to the decline in voter turnout, ASM representatives encourage all students to vote so they can receive as much student input as possible to better serve the UW campus community, Muralitharan said.
“It’s really important for student input to be available through election and through voting, so we can really get as many students opinions and student representatives in this as possible,” Muralitharan said.
