The budget bill passed by The Indiana General Assembly on April 25 included a provision granting Governor Mike Braun the authority to appoint all members of the IU Board of Trustees and remove those elected by alumni. One factor cited in the decision is the relatively low voter turnout among alumni – only 20,101 out of more than 790,000 alumni, or 2.5% voted in last year’s election. However, one trustee candidate thinks that university policy may be the reason to blame.
According to research by trustee candidate Dr. Justin Vasel, Ph.D., alumni elections averaged nearly 32,000 votes per year from 2000 to 2009. In 2009, 32,500 voted out of 500,000 eligible alumni, or 6.5%, although only 29,300 ballots appeared to be valid. In 2010, Indiana University cited “fiscal constraints” and “the downturn in the economy” as a reason for ending the long-standing practice of mailing a paper ballot to alumni. After the change, this number dropped to 14,443 ballots in 2010.
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“This isn’t about alumni disengagement—it’s about access. Interestingly, last year’s election that’s being cited as having ‘low turnout’ was actually the second highest participation since 2010, coming in just behind the 2021 election when two trustees were selected after the 2020 election was canceled due to COVID. The data clearly shows this is an administrative issue with a straightforward fix,” said Vasel. “Alumni become energized when they see their elected representatives making a difference. When alumni-elected trustees raised important questions about university governance last year, we saw increased interest in the process. The foundation for engagement is clearly there; we just need to rebuild the administrative framework that previously supported it.”
Vasel recently released a study on his campaign website on alumni voter participation over time.
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The larger problem of voter turnout
Jonathan Greenberg, CEO of Empower Illinois, who is also running for trustee, pointed out that the same impediments to voter turnout in regular elections are also likely at play.
“In 2024, Indiana had races for Governor, US Senator, and nine US House seats – not to mention probably hundreds of down-ballot races – featuring 10s of millions of dollars in campaign spending and ubiquitous media coverage. With all that effort, turnout in Indiana was only about 60% (2.9M of 4.8M registered),” said Greenberg. “I don’t know why alumni trustee elections are so woefully lacking in eligible voter participation, but I’d bet that the same challenges leading to low voter turnout in general elections are present in trustee elections.”
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Some local organizations have blamed relatively strict voter requirements for low turnout and voter apathy, while others point out the requirements are necessary for secure elections.
More effort needed to engage alumni voters
Mark Land, Vice President of Communications and Marketing at Union College, who is also running for trustee, pointed out the importance of all parties involved in the election to promote voter engagement.
“There’s likely no one reason for the relatively low turnout,” Land said. “Alumni – like all of us – have no shortage of activities and interests competing for their time. I think it’s incumbent on all parties involved – the alumni association, university and the candidates themselves to actively promote the importance of alumni participation, and the ease with which alumni can vote.”
Vasel also added that it was hypocritical to use low voter turnout as a justification for eliminating the election, pointing out the lack of effort on the part of the university to engage eligible voters.
“Using turnout as justification for eliminating alumni voice is deeply problematic when the university itself created the conditions for lower participation,” Vasel said. “It’s like removing voting locations and then claiming people don’t want to vote.”