Nominees running for
Student Government Association student senate saw the results of
their campaigning Thursday afternoon, when online voting came to
an end.
Eighty students ran for the senate, a decrease from 96 participants
in last year’s election.
Last week, 1,481 students voted via AppalNET for their choice of
nominees, either from their respective residence halls or a selected
number who live off-campus.
On campus, 1,096 students voted, while 385 off-campus students participated,
SGA Chief of Staff Heather A. Robertson said.
There are eight on-campus seats and 20 off-campus seats still available,
Robertson said. Three residence halls (Cannon, Cone, and Winkler)
still did not have senators as of Friday, she said.
Cone Residence Hall did not have a nominee, Robertson said.
Cannon Residence Hall had eight students running, she said. The
vote was split between candidates, neither received the required
25 votes to win.
Winkler Residence Hall had only one candidate. Corwyn D. Sergent,
a junior English major from Raleigh, did not receive enough votes
from Winkler to win a place on the senate.
Sergent said he attributes the outcome to his lack of advertising
and lack of voter participation.
“If 25 people had bothered to vote, I would have won by default,”
he said.
Students did or did not participate for different reasons.
“I didn’t know anything about it,” William C. Morrow,
a freshman from Charlotte, said.
Brandon L. Corum, a freshman political science major, said he voted
for a candidate who lives on his floor.
“I didn’t know the other person,” he said.
Students who lost the election may receive a seat on the senate
if 100 students sign a petition in their favor, SGA Vice President
Lauren Linville said.
As of Friday, four petition forms had been given out, Robertson
said.
“I’m very happy that a lot of people have come to get
petitions,” SGA president Rachel A. Johnson said.
Some election winners have already given thought about how they
will contribute to SGA.
Amanda J. Buckner, a freshmen elementary education major from Asheville,
won a senate seat for the Living-Learning Center.
Buckner said she spent time hearing ideas from the residents in
her hall.
“It is a new building, and there are a lot of different groups
[in the dorm],” she said.
Joseph F. Henderson, a freshman international business major from
Wilkesboro, won a senate seat for Bowie.
“I’m hoping to make the campus a lot more student-friendly,
and aid whatever people in my residence hall want to get done,”
he said. |
