The election process for Undergraduate Student Government (USG) kicked off yesterday and will close Thursday of this week, making it a shorter and earlier process than has been used in past years.
The election this week will create an entirely new campus senate, with over 20 positions available including two class senators for each class, department senators, on-campus senators and off-campus senators. President and Vice President, positions that are run on a joint ticket, will also be on the ballot. The only positions that will not be filled are the first-year senate positions. Elections for those will occur in the fall once the incoming class arrives on campus.
Jackie Faust, Chair of the Senate Affairs Committee (which in charge of the elections), said elections are being held earlier this year to allow for a transition process for newly elected senators. She says this will be important so that the newly elected senators will have a better idea of what they are supposed to do in their positions and be able to learn about current projects in the senate in order to continue those into next year.
“We’re starting elections sooner and then we’re allowed to have some of the people who are elected come to senate with us and see what we do,” Faust said. “They won’t be thrown in without any knowledge of what they’re supposed to do or what has been done.”
The campaigning and voting process will also be significantly shorter than it has been in the past, with the entire process taking just four days. Campaigning began Monday at 8 a.m., and voting will open on Wednesday at 8 a.m. and close Thursday at 4 p.m.
According to Faust, the campaign process used to take around a week, but was shortened this year to help keep the process from getting out of control.
“We’re trying to make it so that people can campaign in a good amount of time, but at the same time, it’s not too long where people are trying to spend more money for campaigning and it starts to get crazy,” she said.
Faust says the interest level for campaigning has been high.
“We’ve had a really good turnout, which is really exciting.” she said. “Over forty people attended the [campaigning] information session, which was much more than I expected.”
Faust says she hopes to see this level of interest and investment continue, even after the elections.
“This year’s senate is really looking for people to come in and make a difference next year and follow in the footsteps of this year’s senate,” she said. “We really want to continue our legacy.”
According to Faust, the Senate Affairs Committee is also working this year to publicize the fact that students with extra credits, which can change their class standing, have the option of voting based on their class year instead of their credit standing. For example, if a second-year student has junior academic standing, he or she can vote for the upcoming junior senator instead of the rising senior senator by emailing his or her vote in.
“That’s always been an option,” Faust said, “I just don’t think people knew about it.”
Faust says the committee hopes students using this option will increase voter involvement in the elections.
“I would really like to see participation from the student body—we have a ton of people running and I would like to see a really good turnout of people actually voting,” said Faust. “We want as many people to vote as possible, because when they vote, it tells what the students want and not who’s most popular or who’s most active.”
