Do you know how to vote in next week’s USG elections?

This spring, voting for student body representatives is a whole lot sweeter.

Students can cast their ballot for Undergraduate Student Government (USG) candidates starting next Tuesday. Four slates are seeking the presidential and vice presidential seat and 12 candidates seeking a senate seat.

Students can either vote online on the USG website or at four in-person polling locations —  Tommy Trojan, Leavey Library, Alumni Park or Pardee Lawn — from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Feb. 23.

After casting their ballot, students can show poll workers a screenshot of their confirmation page in exchange for a voucher for a free treat from Fluff Ice on Tuesday, Porto’s on Wednesday and Dazzling Donuts on Thursday.

Nivea Krishnan, USG chief justice and a senior double majoring in public policy and economics, said they are bringing the vendors to campus in hopes of increasing voter turnout.

“Having food is such a large incentive for college students in general,” Krishnan said. “I know I’d be more likely to vote if I had that.”

Last year, fewer than 20% of eligible students cast a ballot for USG elections. But the low voter turnout goes beyond voter apathy for many students.

“I don’t know how to vote or hear the speeches,” said Kyle Lotke, a freshman studying artificial intelligence for business. “But it is something I want to give back to my university.”

Jonathan Choi, a junior studying psychology, echoed Lotke’s sentiments.

“I’m interested in voting. I just didn’t really know it was happening,” Choi said. “I haven’t gotten emails about it, and I don’t really check my email too much. And I haven’t seen anything on social media yet.”

Some seniors expressed a lack of interest in voting for candidates who would not take office until after they’ve graduated, while others mentioned the “Greek vote” — votes from those in fraternities and sororities — as a dilution to their own ballot.

“I don’t think voting really makes that big of a difference in these elections, because major populations choose essentially who wins,” said Taylor Clanton, a senior studying public policy. “Greek life has such a large vote.”

Krishnan said the nature of single-candidate voting when there are multiple candidates on the ballot means few students end up voting for the elected representatives.

“With plurality voting, you get winners that don’t actually win the majority of voting, but who won the most votes in comparison to everyone else,” Krishnan said.

Because of this problem, USG adapted the voting system to follow a ranked-choice voting model, which Krishnan said should provide a more equitable representation of the student body.

The conversation about revamping the voting system began in 2022. In addition to switching to a new voting platform, Qualtrics, Krishnan also held focus groups with students to ensure they understood the ranked-choice system.

Ahead of the voting period, Krishnan said she wants students to know one number this week: $64. That’s how much comes out of every student’s tuition every year for the USG budget—which sits at $2.5 million.

“Regardless of your opinions on USG, the reality is you’re paying for us to do this,” Krishnan said.

Krishnan also spoke about the impact elected USG officials have in liaising with the university.

“The first people that administrators go to are the President and Vice President of Student Government.” Krishnan said. “From their perspective, they are the student representatives.”

She continued, noting the weight elected students have in calling the university’s attention to social, cultural or academic issues.

“The reality is that that body has a lot more influence and a lot of other student groups on campus just by nature of being the governing body of all students.”

Candidate platforms can be found on the USG website under the Elections 2024 tab along with information about how to vote.