By Jenna Beresheim and Madison McCammon
 Staff Writer and Freelancer

This year’s ASWOU elections have seen low enough initial turnout rates to cause the original close date for the polls to be extended from Friday, April 24.

This extension was put in place until enough votes have been submitted to have a legal election. Speaking on Thursday, April 30, ASWOU elections director Cat Bracken said that “turnout has improved enough that the elections will officially be closed on Friday, May 1, 2015 at 3 p.m.”

“We technically passed the turnout percentage required for the elections to be legal as of Thursday,” Bracken said, “but we wanted to keep the polls open longer to increase student representation.”

“In order for the election to be valid, we need 10 percent of the student population [to vote]…As of Friday, we didn’t have the 10 percent,” Alyssa Little said, a third year community health major.

“In an election that only has roughly 5,000 eligible voters, every single vote can make a difference. Please vote and make your voice heard,” said Megan Habermann, assistant director of the student leadership and activities board.

She added, “If you want to see change or see things continue, make that opinion known. ASWOU cannot represent students fairly and accurately without their input and involvement.”

The current candidates and incumbents alike have increased their efforts to encourage students to vote. OrgSync has been a notable change to ASWOU elections this year as students are required to cast their votes through OrgSync rather than through the portal as in years past. OrgSync is a relatively new platform for Western.

Some have found OrgSync difficult to use to the extent that it has prevented votes. However, other students have found the process easy. “I honestly think that elections were extended due to the difficulty of voting through OrgSync,” Alyssa Brooke Chiampi said, a second year public policy and administration student.

Third year business major Dacota Ashwill, said that voting involved “too much work; it is just too much effort to use,” when talking about the switch to OrgSync as a platform for organizing other events and campus info.

“It was really difficult to get to the voting page, it is kind of a doozy to find,” Kyler Freilinger said, a first year Integrated Science and Teaching major.

“College students thrive for simplicity, and I believe OrgSync created a difficult barrier,” Chiampi said, who is also running for ASWOU president.

She added: “I think OrgSync is great, but it is not so great for students that have not had the OrgSync training provided by the student leadership activities board.” Conversely, some students reported little to no difficulty in voting through OrgSync.

“It was pretty simple to use,” Becca Hazel said, a third year community health major. Hazel added that she felt the process was “pretty fast,” for it being her first time using OrgSync.

Many students also reported difficulty in attempting to find information concerning the candidates and bills before making their decision.

This process has been particularly difficult for off-campus students, such as Allissa Phoenix, an ASL studies fourth year student.

“I feel like this year there were not as many advertisements attracting students to vote,” Phoenix said. “This is unfortunate, but as college students we have a lot going on and need reminders around campus to compel us to participate and inform us on the issues in question.”

As the elections have reached their required turnout, results will be reported in next week’s Journal issue as well as the ASWOU OrgSync page.