The campaign to woo potential voters is over Tuesday for City Council and mayoral candidates, and although many important issues will be left up to the elected candidates to decide, one issue they have little control over is voter turnout.

Mary Mosiman, Story County auditor, said only 12 percent of the registered voters in Ames actually showed up to cast their vote in 2003.

Mosiman said 21 percent of registered voters actually voted in 2001, largely because all positions except for mayor were contested.

Mosiman said she expects similar results for this year’s elections, and her office is prepared for a 30 percent registered voter turnout.

“It’s everyone’s right and always important to vote, regardless of what level the election is on,” Mosiman said. “It’s vital for every citizen to vote in order to get the issues they’re interested in advanced and ideas expressed.”

During the 2004 general elections, 65 percent of the registered voters in Story County voted.

“Interest for general elections is broader because of the involvement of political parties in the national races,” Mosiman said.

Henry Alliger, senior in animal science and member of student-activist organization ActivUs, said this is an especially important election for students to participate in.

“This election is bringing out a lot of important issues that haven’t been seen in past elections,” Alliger said. “Issues like housing rental, the new mall and the future of Campustown all affect students.”

Alliger said this election is important because of the dynamic differences in opinion many of the candidates have expressed on some of those issues.

“Virtually every candidate has a yes-no stance on the new mall topic,” he said.

Students within ActivUs have been working lately to register voters and inform them about the local elections.

“We’ve been out talking to students, chalking sidewalks, distributing information and putting up posters,” Alliger said. “We want to let everyone know where to go to vote and when the deadline is.”

Mosiman said there are 20 voting locations in Ames.

“We want them to be central to the population in the precinct,” Mosiman said. “They also must be handicap accessible and those standards can change from year to year.”

For more information, both Alliger and Mosiman encouraged students to look at the Story County auditor Web site for more information about the candidates and voting locations in Ames.