This past spring no more than 9 percent of the student body at University of Wisconsin-Madison turned out to vote for the student government elections. Participation, in fact, has been low for years — and so have been expectations. Katherine Tondrowski, chair of the Associated Students of Madison’s Elections Commission, admits she’d be “very happy” if even 10 percent of the student body would turn out to vote for a student government election.
Most associated with ASM seem to agree the organization is battling an identity crisis and image problem, and is struggling to remain relevant to the more than 40,000 students on campus.