Turnout for the Associated Students of Madison’s spring elections wasn’t just low — it was the lowest in recent history.

The elections, which were conducted online over three days, were to elect student representatives for ASM’s 22nd session. Only seven percent of students turned out in the election that wrapped up late Wednesday.

ASM’s highest recorded voter turnout occurred in spring 2010 with a 34.5 percent turnout — when the Natatorium renovation and expansion project and naming of Union South were on the ballot.

According to the preliminary election results, 2,813 students completed ballots out of the 40,736 enrolled this semester, an issue newly elected members acknowledged Wednesday evening.

Jessica Franco-Morales, a re-elected ASM Letters and Science representative, said she was surprised when she heard the low voter turnout numbers.

“We need to increase the voter turnout,” Franco-Morales said. “Students need to be aware of who is running and why they’re running because we’re the biggest stakeholders. It is really important that we get people on bodies like this who are interested in student issues and are not just doing it for a résumé.”

She said in the future, ASM should look to include more representatives with diverse backgrounds. She said ASM has made some progress on that end, with several candidates on the ballot from First Wave, a UW hip-hop program.

Anthony DaBruzzi, chair of the Student Election Commission, said the voter turnout this semester took a considerable downturn from last spring. However, he said last spring’s voter turnout, at 34.4 percent, was inflated due to the Rec Sports referendum being on the ballot.

UW students elected Andrew Hipke as senior class president with 686 votes, beating out Qi Xi and Jianyi Liu. A senior from White Lake, Wisconsin, Hipke has held leadership positions in both ASM and the Wisconsin School of Business. He said he hopes to lead with collaboration and confidence, according to ASM’s election site.

Ariela Rivkin, a newly-elected representative receiving the most votes in the College of Letters and Science, said she aims to work on campus safety going forward. She said she feels confident in the newly elected members’ ability to make change in ASM’s 22nd session. She also joined her peers in reflecting on lower voter turnout this semester.

“I think making sure that students know how much power we really hold is something I will really strive for in the coming session,” Rivkin said.

Franco-Morales said she remains committed to upholding shared governance in the upcoming session. Gov. Scott Walker’s current budget proposal eliminate shared governance language from state statutes.

She also said the newly-elected representatives are in a good position to address the climate for campus diversity.

“You can tell that they are folks who are conscious of campus climate issues and are passionate about them, as well,” Franco-Morales said.

August Mcginnity-Wake, a newly-elected Letters and Science representative who received the second highest amount of votes in the election, said he will focus on practical issues in the upcoming session as opposed to candidates who ran on lowering tuition or eliminating finals on weekends.

ASM will elect leadership roles for next session later this spring.