Senate Elections Process Changed to in-House

By MADDIE DUFRANE

Student Senate elections this past September were held in-house rather than online, a change that resulted from having more seats than applicants.

According to the Student Government Association (SGA) President Jeremy Thompson, there were only 50 applicants to fill 81 seats.

“The change in process was a result of having more seats than applicants,” said Student Senate President and SGA Vice President Rob Belcourt. “It would have taken one vote to win the election. Instead of bombarding student emails, we felt this option worked well.”

Freshman Taylor McConnell believes that the elections should have been given more publicity to get more attention.

“I think it should have been publicized better overall so that more students could be involved, and not just the ones that are already involved,” said McConnell. “More students would mean better representation.”

The change in Student Senate elections this year will not impact any future Student Senate elections.

“This is an isolated incident. We don’t anticipate this scenario happening again,” said Belcourt.

This also will not influence the SGA general elections held later in the school year.

“Students will still have the opportunity to vote for the general election in person or online,” said Thompson.