Computer portals will be set up today in the Student Center Lounge to allow students to vote for Student Government Association representatives, a convenience that representatives said they hope will curb a history of low voter participation. While SGA does not tabulate the exact percentage of students who vote, Sheldon Pearson, a member of the SGA Elections and Regulations Committee, said voter turnout has been “pathetic.”

He estimated that less than 10 percent of students participated in the last election.

Amanda Edmiston, another member of the committee, said the computer portal increased voter turnout in February’s election to fill vacancies in the House. She said SGA is hoping to have even more students vote today for representatives from their college and class to fill all 56 seats in the House.

“The House of Representatives makes decisions that affect the entire student body,” Edmiston said. “We’re here to represent the students so we’d really like them to vote.”

Edmiston said SGA had a turnover rate of between 50 percent and 56 percent from fall 2005 to spring 2006, but said SGA is expecting lower turnover rates because the students who were elected to fill empty positions this semester have displayed a high level of dedication.

Pearson said representatives were previously elected in the fall for the upcoming semester but are now being elected in the spring so committees are in place when the school year begins.

In addition to returning candidates, Edmiston said, SGA expects this election to bring in several new students to the House.

Irene Wang, sophomore international economics major who previously has not been involved in SGA, said she is running to represent AddRan College of Humanities and Social Sciences because she would like to be more involved on campus.

“I think I need to be more aware of what’s going on around me,” Wang said.

She added that she is also interested in SGA because she thinks it will allow her to express her opinions and give her a chance to help other students.

TCU is not the only college with low voter participation in student elections.

The University of Texas at Austin had 17 percent of undergraduates vote in its last election, down 5 percent from the 2004 election, said Becky Carreon, an administrative associate in the office of the dean of students at UT-Austin.

Students at UT-Austin also run to represent their college. Carreon said representatives advertise and the election is usually more competitive than elections she has seen at smaller schools.

Voter participation rates at Baylor University are also less than 20 percent, though David Jakubowski, Student Government Community Affairs chairman at Baylor, said that percentage is higher than it has been in previous years.

Jakubowski said some candidates advertise but many students do not take the time to vote because they are busy with their own activities.

At TCU, students campaign for student body officer positions, which are elected at the end of each fall semester, but usually do not advertise for representative positions.

Wang announced she was running at the beginning of her classes Monday and said some candidates advertise through Facebook, but that most simply tell their friends to vote.