 |
|
| 77 senate seats open, elections near |
David Forbes
Staff Writer
SGA Beat |
Student Government Association senate nominations
are due tomorrow, with campaigning to begin next Tuesday.
“Right now, just through glancing at some of the applications
that have been turned back in, and listening to people talk, I don’t
think there’s going to be many, if any at all, uncontested
seats,” said Kevin Turner, rules chair for SGA. “I think
there’s a lot of interest on campus right now.”
The 77-member Senate is composed of 38 on-campus seats, made up
of two senators elected from each residence hall, and 39 off-campus
seats, according to the informational brochure released by SGA.
The final deadline for nominations is 5 p.m. tomorrow. SGA will
hold a meeting on Monday at 7 p.m. in the Table Rock room of the
Student Union detailing the bylaws and requirements for campaigning
to the candidates.
“We’ve already gotten close to a hundred nominations,
and we expect a whole lot more,” said SGA Vice President Ezell
Williams.
At press time, SGA had received over 150 nominations.
Campaigning will begin midnight Tuesday and last until Sept. 13
at midnight. Students will be able to vote online.
“On-campus students can vote for up to two candidates from
their residence halls, while off-campus students can vote for up
to 39 candidates, since they don’t represent a geographical
constituency,” said Dino Dibernardi, director of the Center
for Student Involvement and Leadership and advisor to SGA. “A
candidate needs at least 20 votes to become a senator.”
“Vacant seats can be filled through petition [by members of
the residence hall or off-campus students],” said Turner.
Candidates for the Senate are required to have at least a 2.0 GPA.
“What [CSIL] does is confirm a candidate’s academic eligibility,”
said DiBernardi. At press time, CSIL had confirmed 45 candidates.
In addition to academic requirements, candidates for Senate cannot
spend more than $25 on signs or posters for the election and are
subject to a variety of requirements about where and how they can
campaign, according to SGA election bylaws.
Turner confirmed SGA will be tighter in their enforcement of the
bylaws this year, especially after controversy over spending and
placement of posters in last year’s SGA presidential election.
“It’s a three day election; they should be able to keep
it under control. I don’t want to seem like a Nazi, but we
did have controversy last year,” said Turner. “What I’ve
got is what I’m going to follow. I’m going to be the same
with everybody.”
“I don’t foresee that many problems this year,” said
Turner. “We usually don’t have that much trouble in senate
elections.” |
|
 |
 |
