Over the past couple of York University Student Union (YUSU) elections, turnout is rapidly dwindling. YUSU secured only 23.8% turnout in 2020, down from 31.5% the year before. 

And now, with many students away from campus and incentives of pint price reductions no longer feasible, there is little hope that this downward trend will improve in the upcoming 2021 elections. 

While YUSU have boasted of being “amongst the top SU’s for turnout”, 31.5% is still significantly lower than a majority, signifying the results of York’s Student Union elections have been decided by a minority of students. 

When asked why students appear to have little interest in voting for their student union representatives, many may jump to the conclusion of apathy; students simply do not care. 

However, with YUSU often receiving negativity on anonymous online platforms, it is clear students do care about what their student union does for them, so what are the real reasons that students appear not to vote when given the opportunity?

One third year politics student told us, while he did vote, he understood why YUSU elections often had bad turnout:

“The biggest things for me are the lack of accountability that YUSU actually has, and the fact that I don’t think a lot of people get into it for the right reasons.”

“It seems to be something to look good on your CV rather than wanting to make a difference.”

When pressed on what “the right reasons” would consist of, he explained they would be “actually wanting to improve the student experience and doing what the students want”, but you can “never truly know what a person’s motivations are for running”. 

Third year psychology and education student, Molly Pullen said she wouldn’t be voting in the upcoming elections since “third years will be leaving in a couple of months, so the outcome won’t directly affect us”. 

This argument was echoed by many other third years, who feel as though to vote would be a pointless venture, since they would not see the application of the nominees’ manifestos in their time at University.

First and second years, however, should have a vested interest in the outcome of the 2021 YUSU elections.

Emily Smith, a second year English student, said people tend not to vote as they “think it’s a lot of effort to read all the manifestos and decide who to vote for” especially if students believe one vote “won’t make a difference”. 

She added, however, she probably would vote, “because we can’t complain about things not being right and not vote for the people that would change it”.

Many responses to the question “why don’t you vote in the YUSU elections?” are simply “what have YUSU ever done for us?”.

The argument remains, however, that YUSU’s primary aim is to represent the students of the University, and over the COVID-19 pandemic that is what they did. 

YUSU’s election myth-busting page recalls YUSU being one of the first Students’ Unions in the country to “secure a commitment from the University to reimburse all of students’ rent from their term three accommodation – equating to roughly £8.5 million pounds in total”. 

Furthermore, while final years have lower incentives to vote in student union elections, one would argue that they still ought to vote for what they feel is the greater good of the student population, voting for a candidate that will solve problems they faced for future cohorts.

By nominating and voting, students have the opportunity to drive change within the University, ensuring their representatives are doing just that: representing students’ best interests. 

Additionally, due to YUSU’s voting system of Single Transferrable Votes (STV), students need not worry about their vote not making a difference, as if their first choice doesn’t receive enough votes their vote will be transferred to their next preference, ensuring no votes are wasted.

As for questions of intentions, it remains down to the candidates to prove their positive motivations and convince the electorate to cast votes in their favour. 

With so much at stake this year one hopes to see a higher turnout so that a larger proportion of students can have a say in who will be spearheading the response to student concerns over the next year at the University of York.