Students and campaigners may misunderstand the role of the BYU BYUSA president because they focus more on campaign promises rather than what the job entails.
Students voting a candidate into office have the misconception that they are electing someone into power when in fact they are hiring someone to be a liaison between the students and the administration.
'It's a hiring process; it's not an election,' said Jonathan Blood, a presidential candidate in last week's BYUSA primary election.
According to Blood, BYU does not have a student body government.
'There is no such thing as a student government here (BYU) and students don't understand that,' said Blood, 25, a junior form Winston Salem, N.C., majoring in exercise science and pre-physical therapy.
The BYUSA president does not have any power to make policy changes. The leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints establish policies for BYU.
'The student body president serves as a liaison between the students and the administration. Providing important feedback and input,' said Carri Jenkins, assistant to the president for University Communications.
The BYUSA organization offers students the opportunity to be involved with service and campus activities.
'Some people think that it's the student body president's job to run a student government. That is not the case. The purpose of the BYUSA presidency is to help students work to create a Zion campus,' said presidential candidate Dave Johnson, 25, a junior from Mesa, Ariz., majoring in public relations.
While apathy may account for a low voter turnout, some students continue to follow the elections.
'I've tried to pay attention to what's been going on, but it seems like the BYU presidency doesn't have much authority when it comes down to it,' said Joel O'Neill, 23, a junior from West Jordan, majoring in marketing.
Candidates in the past have had problems keeping promises they made to the student body. Without the support from the administration the BYUSA president can't execute his or her platforms.
Rob Foster, current BYUSA president, said he admits not every point on his platform was realized during his candidacy.
He said at times the process to realize his promises took longer than he expected.
'There are so many different stakeholders that we have to work with and so, sometimes with a lot of the big platforms it takes time to get everyone on board and willing,' he said.
For some of the platforms it takes a few years, and presidencies, to see them realized, Foster said.
He said he proposed a mentoring program to help students choose a career and to help locate professionals willing to employ BYU graduates.
However, the program is a work in progress, Foster said. While some university departments have similar programs, a university-wide program will be difficult to realize.
The Cook/Bush campaign said they believed students would be concerned about unfulfilled promises when they adopted their platforms.
'We were aware of the challenges of approving a platform item and not being able to accomplish it for whatever reason during the year,' said presidential candidate Natalie Cook, 20, a junior from Ogden, majoring in business management.
Cook said she feels the challenges with past campaign promises were affected by the lack of experience and lofty goals.
Both campaigns said they feel they have feasible platforms and the administration supports what the campaigns want to accomplish.
However, the question remains whether the candidates' platforms even matter when considering their job description.
'I think when you call a president to office you're expressing confidence in his ability to do what he's supposed to do,' said Jacob Allred, 22, a sophomore from Provo, majoring in pre-business management. 'We just put the best guy in and let him go to work.'
NewsNet reporter Sharon Ugolini contributed to this story.