With one day left to vote for executive positions in the Graduate Student Association elections, the majority of UB's sizeable graduate student population has yet to rush to the polls.
As of Tuesday evening, just over 350 students voted. GSA President Xun Liu said the low turnout is typical and he attributes it to the schedules and workload most graduate students carry.
"There are close to 7,000 registered graduate students, but about half of them are actually part-timers," Liu said. "They only go to school at night or one day a week. The rest of the grad students are heavily involved in research."
The question of voter turnout is raised with every election, according to Liu, but he said he was pleased with this year's turnout thus far.
"Graduate students need to make an actual effort to go out and vote," Liu said. "Unless they feel strongly about a particular candidate, they probably won't come out and vote. I appreciate those who came out and voted, because it allows the students to have a voice in the process."
Mobilizing the graduate student body is just one of the challenges that the new E-board will face when they return for the 2005-2006 academic year.
According to Liu, the new officers will be responsible not only for GSA business but must also represent the GSA to all university organizations and sometimes fight for student interests.
"The responsibilities that come with these offices really take a lot of time," Liu said. "There are so many things (the new officers) will need to learn. One of the biggest challenges, however, is figuring out how to get the students involved."
Along with student involvement, the new E-board members will face the challenge of building and maintaining constructive relationships with the other student governments and university administration groups.
"They'll need to establish and maintain good relationships with these groups in order for the graduate student interests to be properly represented," Liu said. "We've had good relationships in the past, though, so I have no doubt that they'll succeed in that."
Three candidates are running for the position of GSA president: Hari Sai Prasad Kumaragunta, a graduate student with the electrical engineering department; Patricia Mahomond, a graduate student with the American studies department and the current GSA treasurer; and Jun Xu, a graduate student with the economics department and a current GSA senator.
Jillian Flood, a graduate student in counseling and educational psychology, is running unopposed for the position of GSA vice president. Aubrey Balcom, a graduate student in the geography department, is also running unopposed, for treasurer.
Elections will continue Wednesday in the lobby of Harriman Hall, and the polls will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
