Voter turnout for the 2017 Undergraduate Student Government and Graduate and Professional Student Association elections was the third highest since 2008, according to ASU election officials.
The total voter turnout for all elections was 5,865 which is an decrease of 299 votes from last year. It is not clear if the previous year's voting total includes the votes run-off election between the Bishop 2016 ticket and the DeGravina 2016 tickets. The information will be updated as it becomes available.
The State Press obtained the voting records from USG election officials after the election results were announced at the Tempe campus Thursday.
Read more: One more week: TUSG to hold runoff election to decide between top two executive campaigns
The Tempe campus had 4,526 voters in this year's USG election, a slight uptick from last year and the highest turnout since 2008.
Brian Smith, whose ticket came in third in the TUSG Executive race, with 988 votes said the TUSG tickets ran campaigns that led to the high turnout.
“(The other campaigns) came with everything they had, they rallied students behind them,” Smith said. “The Smith ticket is very very proud to be part of this whole experience, we’re proud to contribute in the high voter turnout.”
USGW's voter turnout also increased slightly for the second year, with 307 voters, nearly 40 more than last year.
The Downtown Phoenix and Polytechnic campuses, however, saw decreases in their voter turnouts.
USGP had a decrease for the second year in a row with only 129 voters, compared to 192 in 2016 and USGD had decrease of nearly 300 voters, with only 381 Downtown Phoenix students voting. Both campuses have also only had one ticket run for the past two years.
The GPSA race also received a small drop in voter turnout from last year with 522 voters, down 41 votes from 2016. The turnout, however, still improved from the 197 voters in 2015.
Reach the reporter at maatenci@asu.edu or follow @mitchellatencio on Twitter.
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