Only 6,950 students voted in the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) election yesterday, the lowest it's been since 2001 -- 4,027 less than last year's record of 10,977 votes.

The mood in the HUB-Robeson Center last night was reflective of voter turnout.

Many students said they were not voting, despite being within sight of a group of USG President Galen Foulke and Vice President Luke Adams campaigners.

"Last year when I lived on campus, I was always being bombarded by the election in the commons," Andrew Moses (sophomore-accounting) said. "Now that I live off campus, I don't feel connected. I didn't feel the election came to me at all."

Other students said they didn't vote despite being asked personally by campaigners whether they had.

"Some guy dressed up as a squirrel asked me if I voted and I told him I voted yesterday [Tuesday]. Yeah, I found out that's impossible," Brendan Johnson (senior-public relations) said. "I don't even know what USG does. The only time you even hear about [them] is when they do something bad."

Chrissy Schoellkopf (sophomore-anthropology), who also did not vote, said she had not seen or heard enough about the candidates to know who to vote for.

"It didn't seem that there was a way I could make an informed decision without some real effort, and I didn't have the time," she said. "The differences between the candidates were pretty superficial."

A surprising number of students who did vote said their choice was based on a friend's recommendation.

"Somebody told me to vote Foulke 'n' A, so I did," Matthew Rutter (sophomore-accounting) said. "I thought their goals, although not grand, were practical."

Shea Truby (junior-labor industrial relations) said she voted for candidates Scott Sherbine and Alex Ibrahim after clicking on a link in a friend's AOL Instant Messenger profile that took her to an online USG election ballot.

"I knew [Sherbine] briefly -- he broke a lamp in my apartment so that's why I voted for him," Truby said.

Many students who were educated about the candidates' platforms were those campaigning for their chosen candidate.

Carm Perri (sophomore-secondary education), supporter for, and friend of, candidates Mark Taticchi and Rodney Hughes, said he voted for the two because he thought their goals were the most practical.

"I feel like a lot of these campaigners have other agendas; they have no sense of economics," he said. "[Taticchi and Hughes] are both economics majors and their ideas were the most feasible."

Charles Buchanan (sophomore-political science), who was campaigning for Sherbine and Ibrahim, said he voted for them because of their platform goals.

"A friend introduced me to Scott and Alex, and I liked their ideas on tuition, lobbying in Harrisburg and looking at the budget and seeing where the university can cut costs," Buchanan said.

Head Elections Commissioner Diana Maxham said she thought the low voter turnout was due to a lack of campaigning.

"At last year's election as soon as you knew who the candidates were, they were out, and that just didn't happen [this year]," she said. "It really didn't start to heat up as far as a good race until this week, even as late as yesterday."

Maxham added that she was disappointed with the low turnout, but said she thought the election went well.

"Overall we had a good time together -- we got along," she said. "Now we'll be able to recommend to next year's commissions the problems and changes as far as election goes."