This winter, only 2,005 of roughly 5,826 undergraduates cast a ballot in the Undergraduate Student Government election, a mere 34 percent of the undergraduate population. This is the lowest turnout in around a decade.
We often conveniently explain Princeton’s civic life as just “apathy.” Truthfully, undergrads are overwhelmed with classes, internships, social life, and clubs. Voting sinks to the bottom of the to-do list.
But this year’s number is less about apathy; students do pay attention to USG, and what it aims to accomplish for the student body and Princeton as a whole. The problem is that they wrongfully characterize USG as an insignificant or useless organization. To address this, both USG candidates and the University community as a whole must make an active effort to advertise, support, and center the student government voting process.
Let’s get one logistical explanation out of the way: Yes, voting opened the Monday before Thanksgiving, a time when students, myself included, are mentally checked out and already preparing for the break. One might argue that the USG elections should be shifted to a time when people are more present, both physically and mentally. But last year’s winter elections fell during this period and turnout didn’t collapse like this. So the question remains: Why couldn’t students be motivated to spend just a few minutes to vote this time?
Beyond this year’s numbers, the general low turnout over the past years reveals something deeper. Princeton, while boasting comparatively higher participation rates, is far from alone: Some peer institutions are struggling with the same turnout issue.
So how do we address what is both a broader cultural problem and an issue specific to Princeton?
While I’ll be the first to say that USG does real, meaningful work, too often it is critiqued as wasteful or toothless.
To address this false conception, USG must find new ways to engage with the student body. Op-eds in The Daily Princetonian are a good start; I’ve been glad to see members like Marvel Jem Roth ’28 and Oscar Barrios ’27, both members of USG, publicly urging students to re-engage and defend what USG does well. We have to recognize what USG is doing now in order to envision what it might achieve in the future.
But USG can go further. There needs to be a “political atmosphere” when the election season comes around. Voting needs to be more visible, advertised, and integrated beyond the simple email that is sent in the status quo. This would be achieved through aggressive reminders, in-person tabling, and integration into high-traffic campus moments — a coordinated voter mobilization campaign similar to what we see in national presidential elections. One idea USG could consider is a sort of Election Day to gather an attractive force and create a University-wide cultural event.
Additionally, USG and the University community as a whole must brainstorm better ways to tap into the interests of the student body. To start, USG’s glittery events and programming that garner student turnout, such as lawnparties and “Dean’s Date,” should include advertisements through messaging or QR codes which invite policy engagement from students beyond voting. These are events that many students attend, and yet they may not even recognize the central role USG has in planning them — and how their voice can be heard. These events must be more than just fun study breaks for the student body, but real opportunities to expand USG’s engagement.
The mandatory meeting for election candidates could also include a quick workshop that will give tips on running an engaging campaign. This would add to the culture of civic engagement, making sure that candidates’ platforms widely drive student conversation and engage their awareness as much as possible.
At the same time, we as voters have a responsibility to help make this possible. If we want a USG that actually represents us, then more than 34 percent of us need to show up. Otherwise, we delegate power to a tiny, unrepresentative slice of the student body, and then complain about the results. Students must frame their complaints as an active consideration of how USG might be reformed and act to serve students best, rather than disregarding the entire body as useless.
At a time when national civic engagement is declining among young people, it’s troubling that our on-campus politics mirror that trend. A university isn’t only labs and lectures; it’s a training ground for democratic participation. We cannot abandon that responsibility.
Luqmaan Bamba is an Opinion staff writer from New York. He can be reached at luqmaanbamba[at]princeton.edu.
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