Candidates running for Undergraduate Student Government leadership positions expressed concern about difficulties with the ballot forms used during this year's elections.
When voting on Sun Devil Central, students were required to click through ballots for campuses and colleges that did not apply to them. Once on the relevant ballots, voters were then met with a ranked choice voting system, which lacked explicit instructions.
USG candidates expressed concern that voters were discouraged from participating because of difficulties with the process.
READ MORE: Associated Students of ASU 2025-26 election results
Jaiden Bigney, the USG Tempe elections commissioner and a senior studying business management and finance, said she received emails from candidates saying voters were "struggling and confused" by the process.
Election commissioners and advisers for the Associated Students of ASU Elections Department, which oversees all student government elections at the University, reviewed the ballot forms from previous years and said they did not cause any issues in the past, Bigney said. It was decided not to make changes to this year's form to prevent confusing voters.
"Our job is to keep the election as fair as possible," Bigney said.
She encouraged candidates and voters to read over the elections code to clarify any confusion they may run into during the voting process, particularly regarding how ranked choice voting works.
This document was published on Friday, Oct. 31, 2025, by the Associated Students of ASU. The document details student government election rules and procedures.
Bigney said she wants students to feel welcome to share their concerns with USG officials and for every candidate to be treated equally.
"It's important that the student body gets what they voted for and then are able to come to who won with whatever problems they have," Bigney said.
The advisers for the elections department did not respond to a request for comment.
The Downtown Phoenix campus and West Valley campus election commissioners did not provide a comment but instead directed The State Press to the election advisers. The Polytechnic campus election commissioner did not provide a comment.
Spencer Chan, one of the USGT student body president candidates and a junior studying management, said in a written statement that the current system creates inconsistencies for voters and can undermine the purpose of ranked choice voting.
A major concern, for Chan, was the system requiring students to click through multiple campuses that are irrelevant to them.
"This makes the process feel unnecessarily long and can discourage participation as it adds friction to what should be a straightforward experience," Chan said in the statement.
Despite improvements made in previous years, Chan said the feeling among students and candidates remains the same: that the process is inefficient.
"Given the amount of time, effort and resources that individuals invest into these elections there is an expectation that the voting process should be more streamlined and accessible," Chan stated. "Improving this system is important not only for fairness and participation but also for how USG presents itself to the broader student body."
Parmis Keyhanzad, a sophomore studying health care administration and policy who ran for a USGD Senate seat, said the voting process this year was messy.
"Nobody did mention to us that it was going to be ranking," Keyhanzad said. "Trying to understand the ranking system was a bit difficult."
Ranking all available candidates was optional, introducing more difficulties, Keyhanzad said.
She also said Downtown Phoenix students were at a disadvantage, as their ballots were at the end of the form and were "really annoying" to complete.
"It's already really hard for people to get others to vote," Keyhanzad said.
READ MORE: Students stress need for participation in USG after small election turnout
Katie Ritchie, a junior studying public service and public policy, and one of the candidates for USG Downtown student body president, also expressed concern about barriers to voting.
In a joint written statement, the candidates on Ritchie's ticket said the structure of the ballot may have confused and turned away voters.
Online students reported difficulties accessing the ballot on Sun Devil Central, such as issues submitting the form or re-entering after initially opening it, according to the Ritchie ticket's statement. The candidates stated that these technical difficulties are concerning, as they impact equitable access to participation.
"One improvement we would advocate for is a more curated ballot on Sun Devil Central where students are automatically directed to the ballot relevant to their campus and degree program, similar to how voting was previously structured on Sun Devil Sync," the Ritchie ticket statement said.
Sara Mionske, who was the sole student body president candidate for USG West Valley and a junior studying psychology, said she and the other candidates on her ticket heard confusion from students trying to vote at a tabling event on March 31.
"The biggest concern that we saw was that students didn't know where to go, how to navigate through Sun Devil Central, and that there wasn't clear direction on how the voting even worked," Mionske said.
Mionske recommended changing the ballot to prevent students from having to click through irrelevant campuses. She also said better instructions should be provided on the ballot.
"When the ballot's not accessible, people don't want to vote," Mionske said.
Edited by Carsten Oyer, Senna James, Sophia Braccio and Ellis Preston.
Reach the reporter at apruiz@asu.edu and follow @andiruiz2405 on X.
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Andi Ruiz is a lead politics reporter at the State Press dedicated to serving her community with truth and honesty in her reporting. She has been working in broadcast and news since high school and was recently an anchor at The Cut Network during her first year at Cronkite. She is going into her second year at ASU as a Barrett Honors student studying journalism and mass communication.
