Written by Joe Adgie

With an upcoming Friday deadline, interest in the SGA elections may be at an all-time low – so low, that no hopeful senator has yet to turn in their election packet.

This issue was mentioned during Monday night’s SGA meeting, where executives lamented the low turnout.

In an email sent on Tuesday night, SGA secretary Kelly Hessler wrote that nobody had turned in their election packets yet.

“Apparently, there haven’t been a whole lot of packets picked up,” Ryan Baerwalde, SGA president, said. “If you guys are thinking about running, please do it. We need experience in SGA to be carried over. We can’t keep having to restart with fresh blood every year.”

Amber Worthy, SGA vice president, requested that senators promote this on Twitter, and noted that hopefuls have had two full weeks to get these packets – complete with 50 required signatures from their classmates – turned in. Despite this, one senator requested an extension.

“Is there any way we could push that date back one more week?” asked Senator Micah Howell, noting that the election packets were released the Tuesday before spring break.

Worthy then explained that the date had been agreed upon in advance, and that the deadline could be pushed back to Monday, but that would have taken away from needed time that hopeful senators had for campaigning.

“That Tuesday, people are trying to leave for spring break, and we’re falling back in (to school), and it’s due Friday,” Howell said.

Baerwalde also suggested to senators to go to their organizations to recruit members.

“Please, for the love of God, I know a lot of us here are involved in other organizations,” Baerwalde said. “I’ll go back to my fraternity and say ‘Hey guys, let’s get some people in the senate this year.’ It would also help if you went to specific individuals that you think would make good senators and say ‘Hey, I really think you should get in here and get involved.’”

Baerwalde and Worthy then went on to explain the elections were divided up by classification – with a set number of seats going to seniors, juniors, and the like, and if less than that number run for senate, any senator that got at least one vote would become a senator.

“I don’t think we’ve had that dramatic of a shortage,” Baerwalde said. “I think our shortage is with graduate students.

There were some exceptions to the rule, however, and that exception involved the SGA’s lone graduate representative.

“I already got my 50 signatures,” Senator Jacqui Robinson, said. The statement provoked applause from those in the room.

Those unfilled seats would become at-large seats that would be filled during the semester.

NOTES:
-Due to lack of attendance, quorum was not met during Monday night’s meeting.
-Ryan Baerwalde has confirmed that he is running for re-election.
-An unspecified organization has expressed interest in producing discount cards, in a partnership with the SGA. These cards would apparently be handed out during move-out time in late April. Quantity of these cards, as well as cost, were not specified during the meeting.