By Paige Quiggins

The results are unofficial at this time, due to up-coming runoffs between candidates for SGA President, SGA Services Vice President and Speed school senators.
The Student Government Association election had a record turn out this year, with a total of 3,050 votes. There were 64 total candidates running for various positions and close calls provoked two runoffs for SGA Services Vice President and Speed school senators.
University of Louisville students around campus had different reasons for voting, but all agreed students must vote to get their voices heard on various issues.
“One vote equals one voice,” said Lindsey P’pool, a senior history major. “A majority of the student body thinks that the faculty makes the decisions, but that’s not true, students are the advocates and they relay what students want.”
P’pool said she was very happy with the diversity of students who ran. According to P’pool, one Services Vice President candidate attracted attention from potential voters with a common student platform.
“Students who ordinarily wouldn’t care anything about [SGA] were drawn to him because he modeled some of the things they were looking for and wanted in student government,” said P’pool.  
Despite the record turnout, P’pool said she hopes the turnout continues to increase from just RSO’s, Greek organizations and leaders to the entire student body.
“I’d love for everyone to be a part of it,” she said.
Sarah Ahern, a senior French major, said she was ecstatic about the voting increase.
“Last year there were only 2,000 and we exceeded that by over a thousand this year,” said Ahern.
Ahern said she believes it is important for students to vote because they can choose who they think is capable of such a task.
“I voted because I wanted to support the people whom I thought had the best ability to lead our school,” said Ahern. “A lot of things students participate in are decided by the SGA.”
She went on to explain that the top four actually handles many small things of which students are not aware, including how sports tickets are distributed.
Nijel Nolande, a freshman political science major was excited to participate in her first collegiate government election and was pleased with the results.
“All the candidates were awesome and it was hard for me to decide on whom to vote for,” Nolande said.
Nolande said she believes it is important for students to take advantage of their right to decide who can speak up for them.
“You cannot sit around and complain about everything if you are not going to stand up for what you believe in,” said Nolande.
Senior biology major Jeremy Lowy said he voted to support his Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity brothers and give his opinion for who is best qualified to lead.
Lowy said he believes students should participate in voting because the choice they make has a direct impact on students.
“They’re making decisions that affect all of us on campus,” he said.
Lowy said he believes the improved advertising on campus and Facebook could have aided in the drastic increase turnout. He said almost everyday, his Facebook inbox would contain around 14 messages from candidates.
Lowy also said he was happy with the results but wished more of his Sigma Alpha Epsilon brothers would have been elected.
   Alex Frommeyer, a junior civil engineering major and SGA Supreme Court member was happy with the turnout as well.
“Having a record number of students coming out to vote is something that we’ve been and SGA has been actively working toward,” said Frommeyer.
He believes the fact there were three slates diligently campaigning on campus and an increase in the communication between campus groups increased the turnout. Also, Frommeyer said the Recognized Student Organizations are doing a better job reaching out and communicating to their constituents.
 “Our student representation in SGA is making decisions and working with the administration to make positive changes for all students here,” Frommeyer said. “We need to be very careful and be very cognizant of who we are electing into these positions and making sure we are ensuring the success of every student here.”