Campus-wide election results

ADDY REEHER

Staff Writer

On Sept. 14, students received an email from Student Activities and Engagement with a link to the ballot for this fall’s campus-wide elections. The email included a list of the organizations that were having elections and when the ballot would close. The winners were announced on Sept. 16. 

SGA elected 2023 senator Uchechi Okoronkwo and 2026 senators Katherine Armstrong, Marissa Kessler, Ashley Lam and Tonia Attie. Class Council elected the class of 2023 Vice President Page Davidson, 2026 President Torres, 2026 Vice President Christopher Walker, 2026 Promotions Director Ashley Lam and 2026 Treasurer Jack Sabio. 

After gaining some confidence from being elected onto a club executive board, Davidson, a senior psychology major, decided to run for Class Council Vice President.

“I want to make sure everyone’s voice is heard, I’m really big on that and transparency too, I just want to make sure the right information is getting to the right people,” she said.

Attie, a freshman SGA Senator-elect, utilized social media during her campaign.

“Everyone’s always on their phones, everyone’s always on social media whenever you have time, everyone immediately opens Instagram and Snapchat,” she said.

Attie noticed that the emailed link to the ballot went to some students’ spam folders.

“All my friends were texting me ‘Send the link’ because the email from SAE went to the student’s spam folder and they couldn’t find the link,” said Attie.

Senior Class Council President and communication and digital studies major Shauna Kaplan said that students often do not vote in campus elections.

“I think people know how to do it but don’t do it,” said Kaplan.

Kaplan and Attie both commented on a disconnect with students not knowing where to vote, how to vote or what they were even voting on.

“No one really knows what SGA does, so my goals for this year is put more focus on here’s what we do and what we can offer you,” said senior SGA President and political science major Joey Zeldin.

SGA is a legislative body made up of student senators. The senators write bills on issues that are important to them and the UMW community. As President, Zeldin sets an agenda, conducts research and meets with administrators. For example, Zeldin mentioned tackling issues related to Title IX and infrastructure in the parking lots. There are also plans for SGA to table around campus so students can learn more about SGA and talk to legislators about issues they have on campus.

According to Kaplan, Class Council’s purpose is to plan traditional events like Fall Fest, Rocktoberfest, Devil Goat Day and more. One of the elections happening this week was for Senior Class Council Vice President, and Kaplan was excited to have someone fill the position. Previously, the remaining members of Class Council—Treasurer and Promotions—had to split the work of Vice President.