 "Photo: Tina Hogue")
It's the beginning of March and another round of Student Government elections has come and gone. Following a trend that has overshadowed the race for years, the big ticket swept almost every position. All but one.
In the race for liberal arts representatives, eight candidates ran for six positions, with all but two running on the Empower ticket. While the ticket did fill five spots, independent Sally Waley, an ethnic studies sophomore, fought and ultimately won with the highest percentage of votes in the category.
"That was pretty cool," Waley said. "I mean, I just wanted to get in, but it was awesome to get first as an independent."
But how does the little guy get heard in a battle against such a large voice? Waley said it took a lot of time and effort. Aside from creating a Web site and Facebook group, she and her supporters manned a table on campus from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day, hung posters around campus, handed out bookmarks describing her platform to students and visited student organizations.
"I was just saying 'hi' to people, telling them what I stand for and getting my name out there," Waley said.
Natalie Stroud, a communication studies assistant professor at UT, said that, according to a recent study conducted by Alan S. Gerber and Donald P. Green of Yale University, face-to-face contact during a campaign significantly increases voter turnout, and Waley felt that is what helped her the most.
"I had a little bit more presence on campus." she said. "I talked to a lot more people."
The study focused on the effects of personal canvassing, telephone calls and direct mail on voter turnout. American households were randomly selected to receive a message face-to-face, by telephone or through the mail, while some received a mixture of two or three of the techniques.
Ultimately, they concluded that personal contact increases the probability of voter turnout by 8.7 percent, which could translate to 5,000 students at UT, where student enrollment is about 50,000.
"The most effective thing is the personal contact with students," said Keshav Rajagopalan, who ran for SG president and won under the Empower ticket this year. "It doesn't help to shout blindly on the West Mall. You need to engage somebody personally.
Though he has been involved with SG since he was a freshman, this was Rajagopalan's first year to run, and he, too, focused on building relationships with people in hopes of sparking more interest and ridding students of any negative perceptions of the organization.
Waley helped out with the Empower campaign at first, saying she really admired their platform, but eventually she decided to run and, with all of the spots for liberal arts rep already full under that ticket, set out to run on her own. Many of her friends, as well as interested students, offered their help and support, something Waley said was vital to her in getting through the elections.
"It was really easy to become discouraged running against such a strong ticket," Waley said. "I'd go to speak at an organization, and then there'd be like 14 people in Empower shirts waiting to speak."
But Waley didn't let that stop her, and she continued to talk to leaders around campus, current members of student government and members of the student body, getting the attention she would need to win.
"I do think she worked really hard, and it obviously paid off, so hopefully that will carry over to next year," said psychology sophomore Danielle Brown, who ran for the same position under the Empower ticket and will be working with Waley next year.
While big tickets are often hard to beat, this year's results proved that independents do have a chance and that even the smallest voice, with enough persistence, can be heard.
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