Topic of the Week: Voter turnout in spring elections

Alisa Abbott announces the results of the honor single sanction reform amendment. Photo by Julia Slater.
Today, the University Board of Elections released the results of last week's University-wide elections. Voter turnout was the highest in four years, with a turnout for the College of 48% and a total voter turnout (excluding the School of Continuing and Professional Studies) of 38%. Compared to last year's dismal turnout of 22%, this would seem to herald a renewal of student self-governance.
Yet there was a contentious referendum on the ballot this year: the single sanction reform amendment. Of the nearly 8,000 students that voted, 70% of those students said "no" to that particular referendum. Only 2% of voters did not cast a vote on the single sanction reform amendment. Maybe the only reason voter turnout was so high was this one referendum. What does that say about the state of student self-governance at the Univeristy? Do we show up for the important stuff, or is student self-governance taken seriously all the time? Certainly there have been efforts to improve voter turnout after the poor showing last year. First-year student turnout was 59%, up from 41% last year. Fourth-year student turnout was only 37%, much lower than the other three classes. Maybe incoming students are more engaged in student self-governance than past students have been.
So the question is: Is increased voter turnout due to the controversial referendum or are students taking more ownership of the system of student-self governrnace at the University?